History Through Fiction

How Useful are the Realist Novels of T. Rowland Hughes as a historical Source?

James Churchill

PhD History

jmc18jpk@bangor.ac.uk

Little known of today outside Welsh language literary circles, Thomas Rowland Hughes was one of the shortest lived but most fascinating British writers of the 1940s. Writing in Welsh, his works were translated into English by Colonel Richard Ruck in the years following his death, however, in both languages his works are now difficult to trace except in certain specialist libraries. Rowland Hughes was far from prolific, producing a limited amount of poetry and only five novels before his death from Multiple Sclerosis at the age of forty six.[1] Although, it should be noted his present obscurity cannot merely be pinned down to a limited output, as this has not been a problem for other un-prolific writers, for example Jane Austen.

The Forgotten Influence of Old Norse on The English Language

Patrik Howgate

BA Film Studies and History

couad3@bangor.ac.uk

Most of us go about our daily lives without thinking about what we say. We don’t stop to ponder where these words come from. To most people, this simply is of no concern to them. In primary and secondary education, the subject of etymologies of words is never mentioned, not even in passing (at least in my experience). For these reasons it is easy to see why the influence of Old Norse on the English language is often overlooked, or completely dismissed in popular discourse. However, I find the whole topic to be of great interest.