John On The Rhondda: Recent Episodes
John Geraint Roberts
From the Valley that fuelled the world with its coal, and a community with a thirst for fair play and fair shares – John Geraint Roberts brings us places, people and ideas that lit up a famous past and can help shape a better future.
Introducing an evocative 'soundscape' commissioned from John Geraint by the Rhondda Heritage Park Mining Museum to accompany a photographic exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1984-5 Miners' Strike.
A (very) brief history of the Rhondda - outlining whens, whys and wherefores of the valley that fuelled the world and inspired the Rhondda Heritage Project.
Launching a year-long festival of heritage programmes on Rhondda Radio, Creative Director John Geraint explains the vision behind the project.
Introducing a new book... 'Up The Rhondda!' by John Geraint, published by Y Lolfa and available at ylolfa.com or from any good bookshop
The first Storytelling Workshop for the Rhondda Heritage Project took place in an iconic Rhondda location, as Creative Director of the project, John Geraint, explains...
Announcing a major National Lottery Heritage Fund grant enabling Rhondda Radio to build a Heritage Trail through both Valleys, and to broadcast a year-long 'festival' of history programmes. There's a training scheme upskilling local people so that they can contribute their stories too.
It's finally arrived - the 100th episode! But John Geraint Roberts' plans for it have been disrupted by a disturbing dream...
With the 100th episode of 'John On The Rhondda' coming up next time, the final round of our quiz is all about Rhondda values, and why John Geraint Roberts believes we should continue to cherish them.
With the 100th episode of 'John On The Rhondda' fast approaching, round two of the quiz tests your knowledge of Rhondda music - and gives you the chance to listen again some of the Valley's greatest hits.
With the 100th episode of 'John On The Rhondda' fast approaching, John Geraint Roberts presents highlights of the back-catalogue, and tests your knowledge of Rhondda schools and cinemas, in the first round of a three-part quiz.
John Geraint is the son of a preacher man. Here's the story of his late father, David James Roberts: fisherman, teacher, lifelong teetotaller and Baptist deacon with enormous reserves of patience - and a wicked sense of humour!
An unforgettable night out in Treorchy... in aid of the Rhian Griffiths Forget Me Not Fund, a charitable cause that's well worth supporting.
One Rhondda charity has inspired and supported young people for forty years - but it had never seen anything like the pandemic before. It rose to the challenge magnificently.
If you’re anything like John Geraint, the frantic search for gifts has only just begun, if it’s begun at all. But don't panic, this Christmas he's here to help, with a wonderful suggestion for you...
The most fantastic discovery ever made within reach of the Rhondda - and it all came about because John Geraint Roberts' grandfather needed a glass of drinking water.
'Choral bull-fights’, betting, missile throwing, assaults on adjudicators... You can’t beat a good Welsh male voice choir. Even if you've beaten them. John Geraint Roberts delves into the backstory of Rhondda's fiercest musical rivalry.
Only two managers have ever taken Wales to soccer's World Cup Finals. And they were both born in the same Valley. A coincidence? John Geraint Roberts doesn't think so!
What's in a name? In Pontypridd, it seems, quite a lot. That's not the reason, though, that John Geraint Roberts is heading there this week.
It's the biggest female sports initiative in Wales. It's having a huge impact. And it all happens right here in the Rhondda, where it began...
'Where do you come from?' It's something Rhondda people often ask. It’s not until we go away from home, or meet people from elsewhere, that we begin to realise that not everyone approaches the question in the same way.
Did you know that there's a place on Mars named after a town in the Rhondda? There is. Honest, now! And it's quite some town...
A Saturday afternoon stroll through Penygraig, where the past hangs heavy in the air... but the future beckons too.
A new book about one of the heroes of 'the Mid' - the Mid-Rhondda Athletic Ground - 'Jimmy Seed: Rhondda's Adopted Son' by Phil Rowlands, makes us think about second chances, outsiders... and our aspirations for the place we live in.
A big thank you to those who've read and responded to 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' by John Geraint published by Cambria Books
Street parties and royal visits, celebrations and now mourning. Rhondda's relationship with royalty in the light of events of recent days. Some respectful thoughts from a republican, John Geraint Roberts.
John Geraint reads the tenth and last extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel'. The whole novel is available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the ninth extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the eighth extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the seventh extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the sixth extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the fifth extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the fourth extract from 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the third part of 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the second part of 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
John Geraint reads the first part of 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel' - available from Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) and all good bookshops.
Writing a book is a challenge - even if it's about the Rhondda! John Geraint reflects on some of the demons he wrestled with in creating 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel'.
It wasn't just a dream! John Geraint really has written a book - 'The Great Welsh Auntie Novel'. And it'll be published by Cambria Books (cambriabooks.co.uk) at the beginning of July 2022. Here's John talking about what his 'love letter to the Rhondda' aims to celebrate.
There's a rumour around the valley that a new novel about the Rhondda will be out soon. It's all about someone who sounds very like John Geraint Roberts. It's causing him a bit of anxiety. No wonder he's been talking to himself again!
A new video celebrating the continuing successes of Treorchy's fabulous High Street brings back memories for John Geraint Roberts of childhood bus rides to the town - and prompts him to commend those who've led Treorchy to new heights as an inspiration which the whole Rhondda could take to heart.
'The Other Valley' - from Maerdy down to Porth: so much rich history, and a little bit of friendly rivalry with the Rhondda Fawr! Join John Geraint Roberts on a jaunt through the villages of the Fach, ending up at the wonderful Workers Gallery in Ynyshir.
Do you remember the very first LP you bought? And where you bought it? John Geraint Roberts owes his musical education to a very special retail outlet in a very special place: Tonypandy Square.
Fifty-seven years ago, thirty-one Rhondda men died in an underground explosion in the Cambrian Colliery, Clydach Vale. As the anniversary of the Disaster approaches, John Geraint Roberts honours those who died, and those who worked there and survived the Disaster, by sharing some of their memories of what the pit was like as a workplace: the tough times and backbreaking work, the camaraderie too, the jokes and the pranks.
… but it was Rhondda people themselves who powered up those libraries. In the 1930s, an astonishing 40,000 books were in circulation in mid-Rhondda alone. Across both valleys, twenty-one Miners’ Libraries, established and paid for by the workers themselves, fed Rhondda’s voracious appetite for reading. Because learning was the path to a better future…
If you've spent some time in Wales, you probably speak a bit of Welsh, even if you don't speak Welsh, if you see what John Geraint Roberts means. And if you've spent any time at all in the Rhondda, you've almost certainly got a lot more Welsh than you realise...
Some stars of schooldays sat at desks; some stood in front of the blackboard. A school magazine from the 1960s takes John Geraint Roberts much further back in time, to days when classroom conditions were scarcely tolerable. And prompts him top reveal the secret that every teacher knows...
If you were the marrying kind, where did you tie the knot? Church, chapel or registry office? For better or worse, John Geraint Roberts recalls some memorable matrimonial occasions from his past, even though he never had a Rhondda Wedding himself.
The Co-operative Stores. What do you call them? 'The Coe-Op'? Or the 'Kwop'? Or the 'Kop' even. John Geraint Roberts' family were stalwart members of the Penygraig Industrial Co-operative Society, and they knew what to call it - and what kind of service they expected when they shopped there. After all, the shop belonged to them (and to all the 6,000 other members).
This Grade II listed building provided the power which drove the fans and pumps that kept the Glamorgan Collieries in Llwynypia functioning. It was at the centre of one of the most momentous episodes in our history - the Cambrian Combine Dispute which led to the Tonypandy Riots in 1910. Now it's up for auction. John Geraint Roberts believes it's a place that can play a part in our future too - but it needs saving and restoring in order to do that.
The birthplace of thousands of Rhondda children, the hospital at Llwynypia was originally a workhouse. Its history spans the decades before and after the birth of the NHS. John Geraint Roberts is proud to have entered this world there - and his Mam was very relieved: he was nearly born on a geriatric ward!
A David-against-Goliath victory for a Rhondda campaign seeking to safeguard a much-loved green space for community use... it may seem a small thing in the grand scheme of global affairs, but in dark and desperate days, it's an inspiration, says John Geraint Roberts.
Money... and how it's earned. It's a strange thing. Fortunes were accumulated from Rhondda coal - but not by those who dug it out. John Geraint Roberts weighs up the idea of a 'self-made billionaire' - and finds it lacks all substance, certainly when compared with the tonnage shifted by his grandfather and his butties.
B. L. Coombes's classic 'Miner's Day' has been re-issued by Parthian Books in a beautiful new format, edited by Peter Wakelin, illustrated by many more of Isabel Alexander's drawings and paintings of 1940s Rhondda. To John Geraint Roberts, it's a treasure.
Bizarre, absurd, joyful... Rhondda life has always sparkled with oddball characters and crazy happenings. One news story that recently came to light is pretty hard to swallow - but it's perfectly true! John Geraint Roberts has been talking about it. Talking to himself, naturally...
- Fifty years on from the original 'Year Of The Valleys', it's high time we had another celebration of Valleys life - and a chance to plan a brighter future for this wonderful part of the world.
Flying high in the Swiss Alps. The fun and games of a Rhondda childhood. There's a connection between the two - in John Geraint's mind anyway. And it leads him to consider how those who live beneath mountains despoiled by coal waste deserve better. It's shameful for them to be left worrying daily about whether they and their loved ones are in mortal danger. Coal made Britain rich. For the Valleys that produced it, it's payback time!
Do you have a dream? The New Year is the perfect time to resolve to make that dream a reality! That's what John Geraint Roberts is determined to do, with... The Year Of The Valleys 2024.
Yes, it's that time of year when we all love to puzzle over some fiendishly difficult questions, testing our memories about the events of the last twelvemonth. Have you been paying attention... to John Geraint Roberts?
Introducing two Rhondda hedgehogs who're quite well-known in John Geraint Roberts' family but are making their broadcast debuts in this special Christmas story, suitable for children aged 0-99.
How did Moses cross the Red Sea? And how did the boy called David bring down the Philistine giant Goliath? If the answers to these questions trip off your tongue, you probably learnt them in Sunday School, like John Geraint Roberts. But there's another side to some of the familiar, comforting Bible stories - and even at Christmas, it's worth pondering their true meaning...
Friends. They're special, aren't they? And Rhondda friends are extra special. Here are some of the reasons why...
A special tribute to Logan Luker, the captain of Penygraig Youth rugby team, who has tragically died at the age of 17. Logan lived “to play rugby and make people happy”. The way in which Penygraig RFC and the whole community has come together in this time of great sadness to support Logan's family and teammates is a remarkable testament to the esteem in which this exceptional young player was held.
Every Rhondda park has a story to tell - it's just that, like the trees that lend the parks so much of their beauty, some of those tales are taller than others. John Geraint Roberts recalls the idyllic playgrounds of his childhood... but it was all such a long time ago now, so they're bitter-sweet memories - definitely a case of swings and roundabouts!
The Cambrian Combine Dispute of 1910-11 cost mid-Rhondda colliers £1million in lost wages, and ended when they were starved back to work for not a halfpenny more than was on offer before the lockout began. The deployment of Metropolitan Police and the British Army was crucial to the outcome. But who were the real victors? The 'Tonypandy Riots' bequeathed a legacy - in the trades union movement, in parliamentary legislation and in the strength of the bonds forged in the community itself - worthy of the sacrifice and courage shown by the 12,000 miners and their families.
Did Winston Churchill send troops to confront unarmed civilians involved in an industrial dispute in mid-Rhondda in 1910? Churchill and his family have always claimed that he held the army back. So what's the truth about the 'Tonypandy Riots'?
November, 1910. From Porth to Ystrad, every colliery is at a standstill. 12,000 mid-Rhondda miners are on strike. But their efforts to secure a living wage for themselves and their families are being frustrated by the Chief Constable of Glamorgan, the Metropolitan Police, the Lancashire Fusiliers, the 18th Hussars and Winston Churchill. It’s going to be a Riot.
In rugby, any side representing New Zealand has a special aura. Against Wales, for far too long, its been an aura of invincibility. But there are some Rhondda players who could legitimately respond to that famous rugby chant 'Who beat the All Blacks?' with a proud 'We did!'
Tradition is a funny thing. And the tradition of the Porth County Sixth Form Eighteenth Birthday Party was one of the... if not funniest, then certainly most fun. Or was it? John Geraint Roberts tries to remember
The Rhondda Mam is a classic Welsh Mam with an extra gear. John Geraint Roberts should know - his mother was one. She's remembered - amongst much else - for her endless supply of kit-kats!
Why do we talk about 'the Rhondda', not just 'Rhondda'? 'John On Rhondda' would sound odd, and most of us would say 'I was born in THE Rhondda' - but what's the reason for putting the definite article before the place-name? After all, it's not something we do commonly in English. John Geraint Roberts tries to explain...
In 1937, in New York, the 'Tonypandy Terror' fought the legendary Joe Louis for the World Heavyweight Championship. It was a night all of the Rhondda remembers because of the 'live' radio commentary, relayed over the transatlantic cable. But the story of Tommy Farr's rise through the ranks is just as gripping...
The first day of term! The whole world is a blank page in a fresh, new exercise book, and no-one's quite sure how it's going to be filled. John Geraint Roberts remembers his first day at Porth County, Hendrecafn Juniors and (almost!) Penygraig Infants.
Have you heard about the most influential Rhondda band you’ve never heard of – and why you should be grateful for that? The (literally) incredible story of the group who invented a whole new way of singing and playing, with their classic tracks ‘Tonypandy Ton Up’, ‘Penrhys’ and ‘Wales Today’. Warning: contains nuts.
Broadcast publicly for the first time in an entire century, the mellifluous melodies of the magnificent mid-Rhondda musical maestro and miner, Mr John Henry Tudball!
The National Eisteddfod has only ever visited the Rhondda once - but, as John Geraint Roberts explains, the Valley has certainly made an impact on the 'Olympics for Welsh-speakers'.
School's out - and John Geraint Roberts remembers the colourful summers of his childhood. Six weeks of freedom! But there was a secret about the long holidays, a secret he'd managed to forget since the previous summer...
What do you make of your own accent? John Geraint Roberts is proud of his. But not everyone from the Rhondda thinks that local people talk 'proper'. So John decided to have a chat to someone he thought might cast some light on the issue - strangely, it was John Geraint Roberts himself.
Rhondda people love singing hymns and arias, ballads and rock anthems of all kinds... but have we got enough songs about the Rhondda to sing? John Geraint Roberts has used lots of music in his films about the Valley over the years, but he's still searching for The Great Rhondda Song...
Penrhys - a hilltop site of mystery, magic and miracles. For centuries, pilgrims flocked here hoping to be healed or blessed. It was a place of peace and reflection. But during the reign of Henry VIII, it could have sparked a rebellion...
The Rhondda Working Man - a heroic figure. Tens of thousands of intelligent, characterful men spent their lives doing unimaginably tough, backbreaking work. My Uncle Len was typical of them - but he was complete one-off too. This is my affectionate tribute to him, and to all those who laboured like him.
A bunch of Rhondda boys with a Grand Ambition - to take their local club to the very top of the rugby tree. There are so many parts of this story that - if you didn’t know they'd actually happened in real life - you’d swear that John Geraint Roberts had dreamt them up.
What does Tonypandy mean? Ynyshir? Gelli? Llwynypia? And there are plenty more where they came from! John Geraint Roberts gets to grip with why they named places up and down the Rhondda Fach and the Rhondda Fawr they way they did.
If you grew up in the Rhondda, real Italian ice-cream and 'Bracchis' - Italian cafes - offered a taste of paradise, exotic and yet all our own. John Geraint Roberts savours the flavours of Caravaggi's vanilla and Melardi's espresso.
A trip on a train from Tonypandy and Trealaw station was always a treat for John Geraint Roberts. But there's one Rhondda rail journey he never made, and he's always regretted it...
Where do you come from? And is your 'bit' of the Valley a town or a village? Does it matter what you call it? YES, says John Geraint Roberts. And he finds inspiration for his notion of how we should picture the Rhondda, far, far away, in a most unlikely place.
A walk through Clydach Vale's Countryside Park prompts thoughts of the terrible Cambrian Disaster, and the price that colliers paid so that others could enjoy comfort and power.
The Mid-Rhondda Athletic Ground in Tonypandy hosted international teams in rugby union and rugby league, and boasted its own professional football club. But John Geraint Roberts remembers it for an epic cricket match in which he played an unexpected part.
- Wales was about to get its first-ever dedicated national radio service. But BBC bosses wanted to pilot the new station, to see if it chimed with the audience. And there was only one place to do that: the Rhondda! John Geraint Roberts was just 21 - the youngest member of the launch team, presenting a show called 'Rhondda Rock'.
John Geraint Roberts takes us for a busy walk along the retail wonderland that was Tonypandy's Dunraven Street in the 1970s.
John Geraint Roberts' favourite boyhood toy took him up and down the Rhondda, from Blaencwm to Porth, and Clydach Vale to Maerdy - and even further afield! He was by far and away the youngest driver on the whole Rhondda Transport network.
John Geraint Roberts's boyhood home was just yards away from one of Rhondda's most famous collieries - but the pit had been shut the year after the year he was born. All the same, his house had plenty to teach him about the true cost of the black diamond.
Can you remember your very first telephone number? We were stuck for years on a waiting list before we got a phone at home, and when we did get one, it wasn't a proper Tonypandy number we were given. Memories of phone boxes, party lines, operators and misdialled numbers... a time when telecommunication wasn't the instant, omnipresent, hi-tech amenity we take for granted today.
In 2002, every child in Welsh-medium schools in the whole Rhondda marched on top of Penrhys to take part in a special film based on a National Eisteddfod-winning poem which celebrates the long history of the Valley. Rhondda's world-famous choirs, bands, singers and actors got involved too. John Geraint Roberts explains how he was inspired to make the film.
The extraordinary social gospel preached and practised at the Methodist Central Hall, Tonypandy was an imaginative and prophetic clarion call against the inequalities of the 1920s and 1930s which pushed Rhondda people into hardship, hunger and - in thousands of cases - exile.
The Plaza and the Picturedrome, Zulu and Ben Hur, and the anxieties of a first date - the magic of the movies in mid-Rhondda.
How many aunties did you have, when you were growing up? John Geraint Roberts started counting his, got to fifty and then recorded this episode...
Were your schooldays the happiest days of your life? John Geraint Roberts counts himself lucky to have been born in just the right place at just the right time to experience a unique moment of educational transition.
Will you go for a walk with me?
C'mon, we'll pretend we're teenagers again, you and me, and head off up the mountain. There's a place up there that's got something really special about it, something scarcely believable. I'm not sure I believe it myself....
What does following a band do for its fans? And what the fans do for a band? John Geraint Roberts listens back to a legendary Rhondda band of the 1980s.
Remember when 'Corona' meant pop, not the virus? John Geraint Roberts tells the amazing story of the genesis of Corona Soft Drinks as Welsh Hills Mineral Waters in Porth, and of William Evans, the man behind the brand and the grocery chain 'Thomas and Evans'
John's grandfather often hit the nail on the head. He was the colliery blacksmith. New Year's Eve always brings to mind his long life, with its many ups and downs. He was married four times, the fourth when he was... well, have a listen to find out how old!
A letter from a listener which John Geraint Roberts has kept for 40 years. Mr William Coombes of Llwynypia describes a magic seasonal moment he shared with his 'butties', his fellow miners, deep underground.
“Have you ever met Tom Jones? I did once. Well, nearly...”
The full story of star-struck 10-year-old John Geraint Roberts and Wales’s greatest popular singer coming together in Nantgwyn Street, Penygraig.
First broadcast on Rhondda Radio.
Do you remember Pandy Square in the 1970s? The Record Shop? The cafes? The cinema? John recalls the first album he ever bought, and his first-ever date... and remembers looking back further still into the past, to the times of the infamous Tonypandy Riots. First broadcast on Rhondda Radio.