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Pandemic: How The Flu Changed Wales

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Scientist John Oxford examines the impact of the Great Spanish Flu Pandemic on Wales.

Scientist John Oxford examines the impact of the Great Spanish Flu Pandemic on Wales and asks - a century on - whether it could happen again.

Pandemic: How The Flu Changed Wales: Episode 3

Episode 3

BBC Radio Wales - Pandemic: How The Flu Changed Wales, Episode 3

Scientist John Oxford concludes his series examining how Wales coped with the 1918 flu

Scientist Professor John Oxford concludes his series examining how Wales coped with the 1918 flu pandemic which killed more than 10,000 people in Wales and 220,000 across the UK

Professor John Oxford concludes his three part series examining how the 1918/19 flu pandemic impacted Wales.

10,000 people died of the flu in Wales, 220,000 succumbed to the virus in the UK while more than 50 million are believed to have died worldwide.

In this series John hears how tragedy struck in every corner of the country with whole families sometimes being wiped out by the killer bug. 

It's believed the flu was spread via the ports and railways and as a way of containing it, many schools and cinemas were closed for the duration of outbreak.

In this programme, John looks at the long term impact of the flu on those who caught it but survived, he explains how we still don't know the exact source of the bug and he hears how 80 Canadian soldiers (who died at an army camp in North Wales) are among the few flu victims who are remembered every year in special ceremony. 

The series hears testimony from Brecon, Aberystwyth, Carmarthen,  Bangor, Cardiff, Lampeter and Ebbw Vale among other places as John tells the story of how the flu changed Wales 100 years ago.

Pandemic: How the Flu Changed Wales is a MIM Production for BBC Radio Wales

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