Wales Programmes

Carole Green, Owain Phillips and Sian Thomas present highlights from this year's National Eisteddfod, held in Cardiff Bay. In the second of two programmes they report on the Battle of the Bands where some of Wales' best young talent come to perform, Jamie Roberts also describes his welcome into the Gorsedd and a special look at a play with passion which describes the horrors of war, Milwr yn y Meddwl.

In December 1914 Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance left South Georgia for the Antarctic.

Shackleton planned to lead the first expedition to cross the frozen continent.

But his ship included a mystery crewman - young Perce Blackborow from Newport had stowed away in Buenos Aires and was discovered hiding in a cupboard.

Shackleton had no choice but to keep Blackborow on board and he put him to work with the cook.

In Fishlock’s Choice, Blackborow’s grandson, John, tells Trevor Fishlock what happened next: how the Endurance got stuck in the ice and Shackleton and his men had to make a desperate bid for safety. Blackborow played a key role in the adventure to come.

Also in the programme Trevor walks through Ceredigion where he learns about the 19th Century “War of the Little Englishman”.

As Wales is hit with warnings about poor health and obesity we have the essential tips for staying healthy in middle and older age with stories from experts and inspirational people who are determined to stay fit after fifty.

Wrexham and Maelor - an area of Wales which bulges into England - are the focus for Trevor Fishlock in a programme packed with fascinating stories.

St Giles’ is the largest medieval parish church in Wales, and it is home to a host of treasures, including a sixteenth century Doom painting and a sculptor by Louis Roubiliac.

Over the centuries the church has been extended and restored, with much of the work paid for by Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale University in the United States. Yale’s family came from the area and he is buried in the churchyard.

In Fenn’s Moss, among the kestrels and curlews, Trevor meets an expert cutting peat to restore the bog land.

Nearby, a farmer takes him down into the nuclear bunker built under his land by the government and Trevor hears the story of the Welsh racehorse which was ridden to Grand National victory by Lester Piggott’s grandfather.

Carole Green, Owain Phillips and Sian Thomas present highlights from this year's National Eisteddfod, held in Cardiff Bay. In the first of two programmes they report on the spectacular opening carnival, the Crowning of the Bard and a tribute in music and dance to Paul Robeson, sixty years after the American singer, actor and political activist received a hero's welcome at the Eisteddfod.

URBAN WILDLIFE: Cities are teaming with wildlife and sometimes all it takes, is a closer look, to discover what’s right on your doorstep.

Ruth Wignall takes a tour around Cardiff and discovers bees, peregrines and baby coots.
Andrew Price meets an international community at a thriving allotment in Swansea city centre.

And Sion Jenkins is finding out about what’s an urban buzz and why one community is a hotspot for swifts.

Trevor Fishlock visits the United Services Mess in Cardiff, a club with a long history and many stories to tell.

Sitting with Oliver Lindsay and Fred Seal he hears their stories from WW2.

Oliver, a Merchant Navy seaman, served on an Arctic Convoy to Russia and was manning a gun which helped bring down a German aircraft. Sunk by a torpedo, Oliver was rescued from the freezing water and taken to safety in Murmansk.

Fred was a bomb-aimer on an RAF Liberator, flying missions from an air base in Italy.

Delving into the archive, Trevor walks in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, discovering a gravestone that tells only lies and a line of defence created to protect Wales from an invading army.

It’s something most of us want, but few of us seem to achieve. With evidence suggesting that happy people actually live longer, ITV Wales takes a look at what makes us truly happy - and exactly how we can all turn those frowns upside down!