Moving on from Sludge's earlier thread about being Welsh and the things NOT to be proud of, here's a few things that WOL might not print in one of their stereo typing "Ten things about...." articles.

The first mechanically powered flight was achieved by Bill FROST of Saundersfoot on 24th Sept 1896 when he flew his patented flying machine for 500 metres. That's 7 years before the WRIGHT brothers first successful flight.

Swansea's William GROVE invented the Fuel Cell in 1842. The cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity and will probably be the future power source for cars.

Carmarthen's Philip VAUGHAN invented the Ball Bearing in 1794. Placing the balls between an axle and a carriage wheel allowed movement of carriage wheels with reduced friction. The design remains unchanged in all rotating machines and vehicles to this day.

David HUGHES (1831 - 1900) of Bala invented the microphone. It's believed he also discovered radio waves 10 years before Heinrich HERTZ.

Pryce PRYCE-JONES (1834 - 1920) of Newtown invented Mail Order, selling Welsh Flannel to Europe, Australia and America. He also invented the Sleeping Bag in 1876.

Isaac ROBERTS (1829-1904) of Denbighshire developed the system for deep space photography. He solved the problem of keeping the camera pointing at small celestial objects which required long exposures while the Earth was still rotating.

There's plenty more where they came from.