My name is Hywel Gwynfryn
and I'm a broadcaster at the BBC
BBC Cymru here in the capital, Cardiff
where I live as well as work
But my journey starts back in 1942
That's when I was born in Llangefni, in Anglesey
A small island on the north coast of Wales.
Then I went to primary school when I was about six
and I had to learn English
because Welsh was my first language
Welsh was the language we spoke as a family and at home
and it had been that way for years
certainly, when I was at school in Llangefni
around 95% of the island's population spoke Welsh
but that figure has dropped quite a lot since then
Anyway, after primary school I went to secondary school
and I thoroughly enjoyed myself there
because it was there that I developed an interest in acting
and I also had the chance to visit the studios in Bangor
and be a radio actor
My mother was an actress herself
and I would go with her to the studio
to watch the other actors while I sat quietly in the corner
and then one day, I had the chance to act
and I remember it well
the producer came up to my mother
to ask if she knew anyone who would like to act on the radio
it was the part of a boy in the soap opera "Teulu'r Siop" (The Shop Family)
the first radio soap opera in Welsh, as it happens
and she said "well Hywel", that was me
"Hywel's an actor"
"Maybe he'd be interested"
And then Wilbur Lloyd Roberts gave me the script
and I read the script straight away
and he said "well, the boy can act"
I didn't know how he could possibly know that
but it was a truly accurate prediction
because what happened later on, to fast forward a little bit
I came here to Cardiff in 1960
to study at the (Royal Welsh) College of Music and Drama
not to study acting, funnily enough
but to become a drama teacher
And by the way, the college itself was in the castle here in Cardiff
inside the castle walls
and it was a very happy two years.
At the end of that spell
I then got my certificate
that proved that I was good enough to be a drama teacher
and I actually had a job to go to
A certificate as well as a job to go to
just down the road in Kenfig Hill
but what happened was that I had started working part time that summer
during the evenings to earn some money
before going on to start as a teacher
And who came in to the place where I was working
The Borough Arms here in Cardiff
but a crew from the BBC
and to cut a long story short
they asked me to go over to the studio in two months time
in order for me, or so I thought
to have the chance to talk about my work
but when I arrived, what they wanted was
for me to form part of the "Heddiw" (Today) team
a daily news roundup
and I was to go out of the studio
and bring a part of Wales far away from the studio
into the studio and onto the programme
I received a job offer for three months
and since then I've been working with the BBC for fifty years
in fact, this year I'm celebrating
fifty years as a presenter
through the medium of Welsh, no less
I've been very lucky
in the sense that, effectively
I've been paid all these years
to speak my own language
or rather, to listen to other people speaking Welsh
So what have I done?
during this time, I've been around the world
I've been to Florida in the USA
I've also been to Patagonia in South America
I've been as far as Sarawak and Borneo
I've travelled around Europe
filming programmes for children
back in the 70s
then in the 80s I made a programme called "Ar dy Feic" (On Your Bike)
and I went as far as Beijing in China
and it was an experience and a half which I remember well
So I count myself very fortunate
to not only have been able to do what comes naturally to me
that is, to speak nineteen to the dozen
but I've had such interesting work
and such a variety of work too
and I would later go down another route
and I started to write books
I've written a book about Hywel Griffith
a very famous actor
in a film I'm sure you all know, 'Ben Hur', with Charlton Heston
well in that film Huw Griffith won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor
well, I could obviously go on for hours
talking about what I've done
but that's a little snippet of my story
it's been a pleasure chatting to you
what's more, in my own language
there are currently about half a million of us here in Wales
who speak the Welsh language
and even though its numbers are dwindling
there are significant campaigns
to keep it alive
So thank you very much for listening
thank you for listening
Goodbye!