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Hedd Wyn. The Poet and the Hero

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Hedd Wyn: The Poet and the Hero

BBC Radio Wales - Hedd Wyn. The Poet and the Hero

Actor Huw Garmon looks back at the life of Welsh poet and hero Hedd Wyn

Actor Huw Garmon looks back at the life of Welsh poet and hero Hedd Wyn, who was killed in the First World War and became a symbol for an entire lost generation of young Welshmen

Actor Huw Garmon goes on a journey across Wales to rediscover the young poet Ellis Evans, better known as Hedd Wyn who was killed in the First World War and posthumously awarded the National Eisteddfod Chair in 1917 - Wales' highest honour for poetry. As the winner was announced, and nobody stepped forward it was eventually revealed that Ellis Humphrey Evans had fallen in battle six weeks earlier.

Exactly 100 years after his death, Huw Garmon charts Hedd Wyn's story from shepherd, to poet and eventually to soldier.

Huw portrayed Hedd Wyn in the oscar-nominated Welsh language film of the same name which was produced in 1992. And 25 years on he revisits the newly restored family home near Trawsfynydd and gets a guided tour by Hedd Wyn's nephew Gerald Williams, including access to the famous 'black chair'. Hedd Wyn expert and poet Alan Llwyd, who wrote the screenplay for the 1992 film is on hand to tell us more about the poet's life, loves and eventual fall at the Battle of Pilkem Ridge on 31st July 1917. 

Huw also visits the archives at Bangor University to see Hedd Wyn's famous poem Yr Arwr (the hero), and talk to Professor Gerwyn Williams about Hedd Wyn's style as a poet. A trip to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum in Caernarfon Castle gives Huw a glimpse into what life would be like for Hedd Wyn as he juggled military service with trying to complete his entry for the Eisteddfod. 

Actor Carwyn Jones (Rownd a Rownd, Judge John Deed, Pobol y Cwm) brings Hedd Wyn's poems and letters to life while Fellow Welsh actor Dyfan Rees, best known for his role as Iolo White in Pobol y Cwm, once again portrays First World War Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who he played in Radio Wales' acclaimed three part series Lloyd George's War. 

Hedd Wyn: The Poet and The Hero is a Made in Manchester Production for BBC Radio Wales

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