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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One's controller Jay Hunt recently announced that Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert will host a new panel show for the channel.

Ask Rhod Gilbert is a fresh take on the comedy panel show that sees the award-winning stand-up get to grips with a series of questions posed by personalities and members of the public.

Gilbert will be aided by fellow comedians Greg Davies and Lloyd Langford in answering questions, which are likely to range from the sublime to the ridiculous. They will be joined each week by a guest comic, a well-known showbiz personality, and a special guest 'Authenticator'.

News of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One series comes on the back of Gilbert having recently recorded a new radio show for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 2. And you can listen to his latest ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales show now on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.

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Now, we normally feature news on arts events and festivals throughout Wales that we think you might enjoy visiting. However, this blog post draws your attention to a celebration of all things Welsh a bit further from the green, green grass of home - in Portland, Oregon, to be precise.

The begins on Thursday 2 September and runs over four days.

Seminars, folk dancing, and are all on the line-up, and visitors will have the chance to learn to speak and sing in Welsh. Part of the festival entitled Cinema Wales gives a sample of contemporary Welsh films and programming, with - the latest film by Welsh director Marc Evans that stars Matthew Rhys and Nia Roberts - set to be screened.

The festival begins with an opening concert featuring , while on Friday the annual Award banquet is set to feature soloist baritone Glynn Morris, who hails from Abergwyngregyn near Bangor.

Saturday's Grand Concert will star , a male voice choir based in Llanuwchllyn in Penllyn, near Bala, while Sunday will conclude with the 79th Annual Gymanfa Ganu in which Welsh hymns will be sung in the afternoon and evening.

If you're in the US reading this and are planning on attending the festival, do get in touch! And if you're on Welsh turf, why not visit the or to find out more?

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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Cymru Wales has announced Alun Jones as the new programme director for its Drama Centre, currently under construction in Cardiff Bay.

Jones, who will be taking up his role next month, will be responsible for leading the team delivering the Drama Centre, which will house the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ network dramas Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Casualty, and the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's longest running soap Pobol y Cwm.

The Drama Centre will replace two current ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales drama production sites at Llandaff in Cardiff and in Upper Boat near Pontypridd. Casualty will move from Bristol.

Basic building work is due to be completed in summer 2011. Once fitted out and screen-ready, filming will begin for Casualty and Pobol y Cwm in autumn 2011, with Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures moving from their current Upper Boat studios in 2012.

Alun Jones said: "The drama centre is a unique project in Wales and I am delighted to be joining the team at this stage of a development which, in addition to allowing ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales to build on the success of its current drama productions, also presents a fantastic opportunity for the wider creative industries in Wales.

"There is an ambitious timetable of work to be completed in the coming year, and I'm confident that it will be achieved through the combination of the outstanding talent within the team and the excellent partnerships that have already been put in place."

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Cymru Wales Director Menna Richards said: "I am delighted that someone of Alun's experience is taking over this important project to deliver a fantastic drama centre that will be of significant benefit to the wider creative industries in Wales.

Listen to a clip from my final appearance on the Jamie and Louise Show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales, this time presented by Mal Pope and Lisa Rogers.

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Gwent Theatre has lost its appeal against the Arts Council of Wales' decision to withdraw its funding.

The decision to end the annual funding of £250,000 was announced in June, and is likely to spell the end of the Abergavenny-based organisation. Michael Sheen was among those pledging their support for Gwent Theatre, which works with more than 20,000 young people a year.

The theatre's chairman Gregg Taylor said in a statement: "Our argument is with the substance of the Arts Council's decision. Far from being advocates for the arts they are cutting public funding to those communities where it is most needed.

"Their decisions will destroy two theatre companies serving the south Wales valleys - the most economically and socially disadvantaged areas in western Europe - and also Powys, a large rural county whose children have little or no access to high quality theatre.

"The Arts Council says it has to take tough decisions. Yes, tough on the children and communities denied the creative arts; tough on the people who will lose their jobs; and tough on present and new generations of writers, actors and designers. Tough decisions are always tough on someone other than those who make them."

The appeal was rejected on the basis that the ACW had followed its own procedures during the decision-making process. Mr Taylor said the campaign would continue on behalf of the arts in Wales.

"The fate of Gwent Theatre raises a much bigger issue and the public need to be able to make their views heard in response to the expectations they have of the role of the Arts Council."

It's always interesting to find out what drives people to create or perform art and, in some cases, to swap up a steady job and salary to follow their dream.

In last week's Radio Wales Arts Show I had a real insight into why a nurse became a silversmith and jeweller and why teaching and office work were exchanged for the stage.

Perhaps most fascinating though was actor and dancer, Clive Hicks Jenkins' move to another field of creative work as a painter. The crucial step seems to be his work as a choreographer which he says is quite similar to painting. It's just amazing to think that one person can be so talented in so many disciplines!

The award-winning jewellery designer Suzie Horan - who designed and made the Crown for this year's National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale - was a nurse whose hobby gradually took over her life. It took a good couple of years of thinking about it before she took the plunge but the awards her work has won prove that it was the right decision.

For actress Menna Trussler life really did begin at 40. She was around that age when she felt she'd done her bit in a "proper job" and left the office to work first as an Assitant Stage Manager and then as an actress. She told me she was a useless typist anyway and that, when she left her office ofr the last time, swore she'd never touch a keyboard again!

Soprano Laura Pooley taught Latin before becoming a professional singer. She's now working with Welsh National Opera and, having won the Towyn Roberts Scholarship at the Ebbw Vale Eisteddfod, is a voice to watch out for. Laura's off next year to study further and work as a freelance opera singer.

You see, it's not just TV Reality competitions that allow people to fulfil their artistic capabilities and "live the dream". Look at the early CVs of many artists and you find the strangest beginnings. And, without wishing to be unkind to the Joe McElderrys or Alexandra Burkes of this wrold, my four talented direction changers this week have successful and well established careers.

Here's a short clip from my latest appearance on the Jamie and Louise Show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales, this time presented by Mal Pope and Lisa Rogers. I'll be back again next Friday for another chat.

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A unique exhibition showcasing the contrasting work of two of Wales' prominent artists is to go on show next month at Oriel Ynys Môn in Llangefni.

Visions will feature the work of sculptor and landscape painter Wilf Roberts. The exhibition will be officially opened on Friday 10 September by Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas.

Landscape painting Old School House by Wilf Roberts

Roberts was born and raised on Anglesey, and studied at Llangefni Secondary School where he was inspired by his art teachers - who included Ernest Zobole and Gwilym Prichard.

He taught in London for 13 years, combining this with studying part time at Croydon Art College. In 1974 he returned to live in Mynydd Bodafon, Anglesey, and devoted himself to painting full time from 1996.

The area where he still lives, as well as Anglesey's coastal and rural beauty, forms the inspiration for many of his pieces. He works mainly in oils and acrylics, with earthy tones forming the base for his depictions of old farmhouses, cottages, chapels and churches on the island.

An example of John Meirion Morris' work

John Meirion Morris, born in Llanuwchllyn near Bala, studied at the Liverpool College of Art. He taught art in Llanidloes before taking up lecturing posts in Leamington Spa Art School in  1964 and at Kumasi University in Ghana in 1966.

He lectured at the University of Wales Aberystwyth on his return to Wales in 1968 and in 1985 became the head of art at Bangor Normal College. He retired in 1990.

Visions will open at Oriel Ynys Môn on 11 September and will run until 7 November 2010.

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Most people can empathise with that feeling of not realising how drunk you are until you try doing something you usually do sober (ie 'why am I in my kitchen trying to make a cup of tea in a pint glass?').

It quite often happens when you're sat in a nightclub having drinks bought for you in succession (I'm aware this only really applies to Page Three models and people who drink in enormous rounds), and you think 'wooooah' on getting up to go to the toilet, as the nightclub dancefloor starts to feel like you're walking on a catamaran.

Anyway. I always perform stand up comedy sober, but I got this feeling on Monday night when there was late show I'd forgotten about... which I had to do hammered.

Now then. I don't drink at all before stand up. I am funnier sober, my timing is better and my ad-libbing more sharp. The least I can do is turn up for work without being drunk; after all I talk for a living and everyone knows a slurring newsreader is probably quite a bad thing, so I work on that principle.

However, while it's occasionally possible for footballers to look graceful and fat (Jan Molby immediately springs to mind, Lee Trundle during his early years at Swansea and John Barnes at the end of his career, when I thought he was both cuddly and effective), it is possible for some stand ups to be incredible whilst inebriated.

In fact, there can be something quite exhilarating about a drunk yet lucid comic freewheeling their way through a hazy flight of fancy, spittle flecked moments of genius being punctuated by sips from a glass of wine or beer.

Dylan Moran drinks on stage, Johnny Vegas has clearly had a pint before performing, and these are two of the most lauded stand ups of their generation.

Unfortunately, I am one of the comics who proves the rule, as demonstrated on Monday.

Following my solo show at 7.40pm, I met a friend for something to eat. The show had gone well and I decided to drink a bottle of red with my salad, being fairly health conscious during the festival (that's my five-a-day if you include the grapes in the wine).

We talked about comedy, football and everything in between, at which point I thought 'I love the taste of expensive premium lager,' and had a few of those. A couple of lagers later I got a text saying 'as you're closing the show, you don't have to arrive until 12.15am,' at which point I thought 'oh dear.'

I turned up, a few espressos sloshing around my stomach just to make my insides think that I'd had a breakdown, and as I was announced I was beginning to think 'well this should prove no significant problem,' until I walked on stage and the mic stand wasn't quite where I expected it to be (ie about three feet away from where my hand was flailing).

I said 'hello' and the audience said 'hello' back. I then said 'hello' again and mumbled desperately 'why aren't you saying hello to me?' before somebody replied 'because you're drunk!' I took a moment to steady myself before delivering a retort that would shake artistic foundations in London, New York and Swansea.

'Yes!' I replied. 'I'm drunk... because I had a drink!'

The gig went pretty badly. I decided to do some 'greatest hits' material, thinking 'I can just get my head down and bash these out' in the way pub covers bands hastily decide to do Mustang Sally instead of Miles Davis if there are mini kievs being thrown at the bassist.

Unfortunately, I gave away the reveal to my best routine (ie the punchline, and thing the routine rests on) about five minutes too early, thus rendering the whole set up pointless. I carried on with the set up regardless, however, displaying a titanic lack of judgement.

So, that's five minutes of the gig wasted, now it's time for some banter. I asked various members of the crowd questions, answered clumsily each time before deciding on the hoof to perform a routine from last year's Edinburgh show - the most ambitious thing I've ever written and, also, something I haven't done for a year.

I have no memory of how it went. My only memory is of Dave in the tech box doing that 'wind up now!' motion with his hands, which is probably a bad sign. I left the stage, the other comedians gave me a hug (we were all mates so they found it hilarious) and I walked home, a lesson learnt and preparing myself for a hangover.

I spoke to my friend John the next day and he was philosophical about it all. 'It's good to blow out the cobwebs' he said. 'Prove to yourself that you can't do stand up drunk. If you'd nailed it then suddenly you've set a precedent for drinking heavily before each gig, which is dangerous and the next thing you know you're asking for crème de menthe on the rider before performing the fresher's week show at Reading University.'

So if you're disappointed that I'm not writing this from a harem in Edinburgh, other comics drinking champagne from a football boot as Page Three girls look on, squealing things like 'despite being three sheets to the wind his metaphors are still as snappy and hilarious as ever,' I can only apologise. Maybe it's lack of practice.

If you see me in September, sleeping in the car park of Reading University, clutching a bottle of cooking sherry and urine stained notebook, then you'll know I've put the hours in.

Elis James is performing his show Daytripper at The Tron in Hunter Square, at 7.40pm (not 19 August).

Listen to a clip from my appearance last Friday on the Jamie and Louise Show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales, this time presented by Mal Pope and Louise Elliott. I'll be back again this Friday for another chat.

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At 7pm tonight Alex Jones takes over as co-host of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One's The One Show with Jason Manford. You can read Alex's thoughts about her whirlwind past few weeks on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ TV blog. You can also read about Alex on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News website.

As the Ammanford-born presenter prepared to take her place on the green sofa, we asked her about moving to London, her dream guests, and why it's never a good idea to go shopping in your pyjamas...

Is it true that the producers spotted you on YouTube and the producers hadn't actually heard you speak English before you audition?

They were laughing and said: "We looked at your showreel and the whole office was in stitches because it was like Christine Bleakley but in Welsh. Initially we got you in for a laugh." [sarcastically] Loveeeeely. [laughs] But after five minutes they were like, "Hang on, maybe there's something in this".

So, yeah, we had a really lovely initial meeting and we clicked straight away and then obviously they got me back. And, you know, when you know somebody really wants you to do well... Sandy the editor and Gareth the deputy editor were like mum and dad in the background doing thumbs up signs when I'd done well! They were lovely, but initially it was all a bit of a joke.

Are there any Welsh guests you'd love to get onto the show?

Ruth Jones has just been on and she would have been great. I really like Joanna Page as well - I think she's a fantastic actress. But it will be nice to get the odd Welsh guest on just so that I feel a bit more at home, maybe. Welsh seems to be trendy all of a sudden! I'm sure at some point between now and Christmas we'll have our fair share, which will be nice.

The whole of Wales seems to be backing you - will that help ease the nerves or will you be worried that the whole country's watching you?

Well it kind of buzzed it up now and they've been so, so, so supportive. I've been bowled over by the amount of messages and everything. I know Wales On Sunday is publishing a massive good luck special with messages from all my colleagues and everything, which is fantastic.

The pressure then, to perform on Monday is pretty hairy, to get it right when everybody's going "You'll be great, you'll be great." So, oh gosh, touch wood it goes well, but they'll still forgive me if I do make a mess of it, I'm sure.

What are you going to miss about living in Wales?

Mostly I'll miss my friends and my family, although they think it's great because they want to come up here for weekends! Already I'm booked up until November because everybody's asking, "Which weekend can we come?" So it'll be fun. I think the people make a place, really, and if my friends and my family are here often it'll be fine, and I'm sure I'll make new friends.

Cardiff is where I've lived for 10 years and I think it's a fantastic city. It's small and manageable and London's going to be a completely new world! Of course I'll miss it but I think for a job like this you've got to commit and if it means moving to a new city, that's what I've got to do.

You've said in the past that being on network TV didn't bother you. Did that all change when the call came through?

Well there was something in the Western Mail, but if a Welsh paper asks if you would move to London at the drop of the hat, well no. Because I wouldn't. But that was misquoted a little bit because what I meant was that I've put in a lot of energy and committed to every job I've done, so a job in London would mean the same amount of commitment and energy.

Obviously having the One Show job is the icing on the cake to any regional presenter. It's a huge job and I'm so amazed that they've given it to me, and I'll give it my all! But the training and the apprenticeship I've had in Wales is what's given me this opportunity. Without them it wouldn't have happened, so I owe it to them to do a good job.

When are you going to get back to Cardiff, or is it all going to be a bit of a whirlwind?

Well I'm back and forth; I'm going back tonight [Friday] so I can pack tomorrow and see friends, and then I'll come back on Sunday. I think it'll be like that at the beginning because I've only seen one flat in London and haven't really looked for anywhere to live yet. But I think it'll all sort itself out. I'll just concentrate on getting the words right on the sofa - and then I'll look for somewhere to live.

What's been the best or funniest moment you've had so far since you've had that call?

Well... probably an unfortunate moment. I'm a bit like Bridget Jones really, in that I attract unfortunate things to happen to me. The other day I was locked out of my house in my pyjamas. I know! My mother had told me, "Don't be going out in your pyjamas any more, Alex," but I thought I'd just nip to the shops. I bought make-up wipes and the Radio Times, just to see what Jason and I looked like on the cover.

Anyway, I looked like Alice Cooper at this point because I didn't have anything to take my make-up off with from the night before, so the only thing I had was a set of spare keys to my friend's house who lives opposite. I didn't even have a mobile phone to ring anybody. So I had to go into his house to use his phone before his burglar alarm went off. But of course, the alarm went off and all the neighbours ran over to see what all the commotion was about.

So there was me in a hoodie with 'jamas and I was like, "Don't worry, I'm not breaking in! It is me, I'm on the cover of the Radio Times! I am normal really!" I suppose that is the most bizarre moment to date.

A new photography exhibition showcasing the cream of the Welsh celebrity crop will open at the in Cardiff Bay in September.

hails from Llanidloes in Powys, and has snapped some of the showbiz world's most famous stars, including Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey and Sir Roger Moore.

Matthew Rhys by Cambridge Jones

For the new exhibition, Talking Pictures, Jones asked each of his sitters during their photo shoots about who had most inspired them. Their answers accompany each of the portraits in the exhibition as a personal soundtrack giving the audience a unique insight into their lives.

Listen to this clip, courtesy of Cambridge Jones and Judith Kampfner, featuring Welsh actor Matthew Rhys speaking about his inspiration to go into the acting profession. Please note, this audio clip is of a reduced sound quality.

The Talking Pictures collection includes images of former Monty Python star Terry Jones, actors Damian Lewis (and his Welsh wife Helen McCrory), Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, Siân Phillips, Matthew Rhys, Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Sheen, and author Jan Morris.

Figures from the Welsh music scene include singers Shirley Bassey, Bonnie Tyler, David Gray and Cerys Matthews; bands Stereophonics, Lostprophets and Feeder, and opera stars Bryn Terfel, Robert Lloyd and Katherine Jenkins.

Ioan Gruffudd by Cambridge Jones

Listen to this clip, courtesy of Cambridge Jones and Judith Kampfner, featuring Ioan Gruffudd - in which he speaks on acting from an early age. Please note, this audio clip is of a reduced sound quality.

Photographer Jones commented: "I want my photos to be more than 2D... a viewer reconnects with a famous person when they not only look at an image but also hear them speak about something they are passionate about."

Talking Pictures will run at the Wales Millennium Centre from 7 September to 25 October 2010. The exhibition has been developed in association with the and will also feature later in London, New York and Los Angeles.

Browse a photo gallery of a selection of images from the Talking Pictures exhibition.

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It has to be one of my most surreal experiences to date - the oldest existing European drama performed in the open air where the army do their training.

Yes, it's National Theatre Wales' new production. The play is a newly worked version of The Persians by the ancient Greek dramatist Aeschylus. The setting: a training area that I learned was called FIBUA (that stands for Fighting in Built-Up Areas) up on the military's training ranges in the Brecon Beacons. FIBUA is a reconstructed village where the army learn how to deal with urban warfare - searching houses, dodging snipers and so on.

Obviously this is not a venue you can just turn up at. The meet point is the army camp at Sennybridge where an officer warns you not to pick up or kick any ammunition or grenades you might find lying around as they could still be live.

No danger of me doing that, I muttered, but apparently everyone needs to be warned as human instinct leads most people to pick up discarded ammo and say "look what I've found". I may be curious and daft but the great big yellow streak of cowardice that runs right through me is protection from that kind of danger!

I spoke to actor and director Sian Thomas about the play on yesterday's Radio Wales Arts Show. Here's a clip from the interview:

The cast, led by Royal Shakespeare Company star Sian Thomas and directed by Mike Pearson, have grown more used to the surroundings and the gunfire and other sounds of the army's regular exercises, although they have provided a sometimes strange soundtrack for rehearsals.

The play itself is about war and perhaps it's only the technology that's changed since it was written in 472 BC.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 6 Music presenter and former Catatonia star Cerys Matthews will be on the judging panel for a new award category in the .

The Sony Reader Award for Unpublished Writers award has been created specifically to support unpublished British novel writers under the age of 30 using electronic book formats for the entire process, from submission of the entries through to the judging stage and then publication.

The winner will receive a cash prize of £5,000 and their book will be published in eBook format and made available for download from the Sony UK website.

Matthews, who is currently working on her own novel, will join literary experts on the panel including journalist Allison Pearson, screenwriter Andrew Davies and founder of the Dylan Thomas Prize, Peter Stead.

The panel will shortlist three finalists, and the winner will be announced at the Dylan Thomas Prize Awards ceremony on 1 December.

Upon accepting the judge's role, Matthews said: "As a writer myself, I appreciate the work that goes into trying to get a book published. The Sony Reader Award for Unpublished Writers provides a great stepping stone in helping up and coming writers to achieve that end goal. I am really looking forward to judging the category."

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Following their first successful exhibition at the 2010 National Eisteddfod, the have turned an empty retail unit in one of Cardiff's famed shopping arcades into an exhibition space.

Untitled, etching by Georgina Brownlow

Cardiff Print Workshop, a not-for-profit organisation, has been based in the Welsh capital for 20 years. The workshop comprises 20 artists who aim to inform and inspire people about this less well-known art form and the exciting techniques and methods used to create unique pieces of art.

The voluntarily-run workshop at the Howardian Centre specialises in the more traditional methods of printmaking, such as etching and stone lithography, mono printing and engraving.

Hozuki, etching and by Jane Marchesi

Having successfully obtained a grant from the to enable an exhibition in the National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale earlier this month, Cardiff Print Workshop wanted to bring the successful show back to Cardiff.

They have rented out an empty shop space, unit 12-14, in Cardiff's High Street Arcade for two weeks, with the exhibition set to run until 21 August.

Green Haze, etching by Lauren Burgess

Lauren Burgess of the Cardiff Print Workshop commented: "This is a wonderful opportunity for us and also for the people in Cardiff to learn and appreciate the methods of printmaking."

The exhibition will finish with an Art Print Market on Saturday 21 August, where people will be able to purchase original prints at lower prices.

For further information on the Cardiff Print Workshop . You can also listen to an interview with Lauren Burgess and Catherine Ade from the CPW on the .

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Tuesday morning. Five shows in, 19 left. The acclimatisation period is almost over.

Things that make it feel like the Edinburgh Festival:

Doing two rowdy late shows on Saturday night. One was at a venue called The Underbelly, where three drunk Scottish lads took off their clothes as 200 people roared approval, in that way you only get when it's 2.14am and there's nudity on the cards. I was backstage talking about ticket sales to my friend the Australian comic Felicity Ward though, and missed the whole thing.

Things that don't make it feel like the Edinburgh Festival:

I have not been drunk yet, as I am still terrified that my show is awful and if I do a show hungover I will be rubbish, reviewers will slate me, I'll never be able to come back to the festival and mam and dad's house will fall into the sea.

I am also eating quite well, and it is just about morning when I get up, amazingly. Once, at the Fringe in 2008, my watch stopped during the night, misleading me when I woke up into thinking it was 7.58pm, which would have meant I'd missed my show.

Thankfully, I realised on staggering terrified into the kitchen that it was still the afternoon (thank you oven clock), but the scary thing was that it was plausible I'd slept the whole way through. It was at that stage I realised the Edinburgh Festival gives you the body clock of a tormented night porter at a haunted hotel.

Things that make it feel like the Edinburgh Festival:

I have already seen the show that has inspired me for next year, and that was within 24 hours of arriving in Edinburgh. is a mate of mine but I hadn't seen a single preview of his show, and was only vaguely aware of the premise.

However, I went on the first night (a minute before starting he muttered "this will be good in a fortnight El, please don't judge me") and it was absolutely superb. Video inserts, offstage screaming, superb acting from his very talented girlfriend Nadia Kamil in one of the funniest pieces of crying I have ever seen - it is an amazing piece of work and far more than just stand up. I left the venue feeling totally inspired.

is on at the Pleasance Dome at 8.10pm. It is clashing with me but I am going to be big about this and I urge you to see it.

There's plenty of early buzz for a few other shows as well, but I haven't had a chance to check them out yet, so I will fill you in as I get the chance. Josh my flatmate described Henry Paker's 3D Bugle as "extraordinary", so that's next on the list. (Henry Paker is on at The GRV at 7.50pm and is also clashing with me, so I'll have to watch that on my night off.)

Things that don't make it feel like the Edinburgh Festival:

Our flat is actually quite nice. To save money I lived in a windowless, coffin sized griefhole last year, and if the door to my room was shut the only way to tell if it was night or day was by looking at my phone.

This year, in classic Edinburgh tradition, the handle broke on our lounge door, and being four comedians none of us knew what to do about it.

My immediate thought was "oh well, we'll lose our bond and we'll have to hang out in the kitchen for four weeks, but I can live with that," until my flatmate exclaimed "MY DICTAPHONE AND ALL MY SHOW NOTES ARE IN THERE!"

Amazingly, following a tearful call to a real man with big hands and a toolbox, the door was mended within the day (it took the real man approximately 10-15 seconds, which is the most embarrassed I have felt for a long time. He was here for less than the duration of those announcements telling you to mind the gap at train stations).

That level of efficiency doesn't feel like me at all. In 2008 there was a brown/orange ooze seeping into our lounge, which myself, , and would just stare at as we ate our tea. Eventually, the ooze became quite the celebrity after The Scotsman ran a feature on it.

Right. I'm off to try and make my show funnier. Living with John Robins, and has led to a small amount of horseplay, which I will fill you in on if it's appropriate (not a huge amount of horseplay - we are comics after all, not Welsh rugby boys on a tour of Canada).

OK. I'll tell you. One of the lads read from my diary sardonically whilst naked.

Oh despair!

Go and see John Luke Roberts!

Elis.

A new book that recounts the history of one of Wales' grandest theatres is set to be released.

Swansea's Grand by Ian Parsons is published by , who describe the book as the first definitive history of the charming Victorian entertainment palace and a compelling compendium of all things theatrical, professional and amateur.

Swansea Grand was designed by Newcastle architect William Hope and was opened in 1897 by opera star Adelina Patti.

Welsh performers Ryan Davies and Ronnie Williams

Over the years many a Welsh great has graced the Swansea stage, including stars of Welsh entertainment in the 1960s and '70s Ryan Davies and Ronnie Williams, actors and singers Harry Secombe, Ivor Emmanuel (of Zulu fame), Stan Stennett and Max Boyce.

Swansea's Grand will be officially launched at the theatre's Arts Wing on Wednesday 18 August at 6.30pm, with author Parsons set to sign copies of the book after the launch event.

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Mid Wales will pay tribute to Middle Earth this weekend as the descends on Pontrhydfendigaid in Ceredigion.

Festival in the Shire is a three-day celebration of the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The festival is split into different events to cater for both the more avid fans and those who have a more general interest in the life and works of the author.

J.R.R. Tolkien pictured in 1968 in Oxford

The festival combines an academic conference for more experienced fans and Tolkien scholars, and a 'Fan Exposition', again for avid fans and collectors, that will showcase rare  books, art and drawings and memorabilia.

Organiser Mark Faith said: "There is a huge following for Tolkien... The fan element straddles the academic work as well as the general interest in him.

"The fans know what they call 'the Tolkien lore', they are enthusiasts but they have a certain amount of knowledge as fans and expect to have an event that caters to their interest."

The large festival, suitable for more general or new fans, will have a variety of stalls and entertainment for all the family including fantasy inspired re-enactments, music and other performance art.

Attendees will also be able to sample local Welsh produce and view Celtic arts and crafts, while various competitions, workshops, storytelling and role play activities are also planned.

Read an article about the festival on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Mid Wales website, and visit the official for further information on the event, which runs from 13-15 August.

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New ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two series ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Movie Roadshow uncovers hidden film footage gems, and the next episode features rarely seen footage filmed by Terry Jones of his Monty Python co-stars.

In the new series, which started last week, Dan Cruickshank and Kirsty Wark present 100 years of Britons' lives filmed on home movie cameras, proving that shooting a video and showing it off to the public isn't a new thing.

After an appeal to people to send in their favourite pieces of home movie footage, an expert team of film historians pored over the results as well as amateur film footage held in the nation's archives. The team then took to the road in a specially constructed 'cinebus' to hear about the films in person.

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Movie Roadshow team: Robin Baker, Kirsty Wark, Dan Cruickshank and Binny Baker © Silver River TV/³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

In a clip taken from the next programme, Jones explains to Wark how he would capture the madcap antics of the Pythons at work and play before they hit the big time.

In the early days of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the team had little idea of how big the show would become, so Jones wanted to capture the moment on film - an early nod to his future in directing.

You can see the episode on Friday 13 August at 9.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two Wales, and watch the previous episode now on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.

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You'd expect to see a whole host of foods at a food festival, but the forthcoming has something a little unexpected on the menu.

Gillian Clarke © Owain Llyr/Academi

National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke will appear alongside the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy at the 12th annual festival. The friends and literary colleagues will each read and discuss their work, with bees, honey and food-inspired poetry all up for discussion.

The Abergavenny Food Festival takes place on 18 and 19 September - .

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A new exhibition featuring dramatic photography of the Welsh coastline by has gone on show at the .

Aled Rhys Hughes' photograph of Y Bont Werdd

Hughes' photography was featured in the 2008 book Rhyw Deid yn Dod Miwn. The project was a collaboration with the late poet Iwan Llwyd, as both were commissioned by Welsh publisher Gomer to interpret the Welsh coastline in their respective artistic mediums of photography and poetry.

The book, which won the award for best pictorial book at the Welsh Book Council Trade Awards in 2010, presents an arresting and revealing look at a landscape which should be familiar but, when perceived through the artist's lens, uncovers exciting and unexpected vistas.

Aled Rhys Hughes' photograph of Tenby. (Images courtesy the artist and provided by Mission Gallery.)

Poet, musician and literary critic Llwyd died suddenly in May this year at the age of just 52. He won the National Eisteddfod Crown in Rhymney Valley, south Wales in 1990 for his collection Gwreichion (Sparks).

In 2006 Hughes was awarded the Gold Medal for Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod in Swansea, for his photographs of the Black Mountain entitled Farewell Rock.

Aled Rhys Hughes - A Turning Tide exhibits at Mission Gallery until 5 September 2010.

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And so another Eisteddfod comes to a close and so does my time working for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Cymru Wales in Ebbw Vale.

It's a little emotional sitting here for the final time writing this blog and seeing everyone who's worked so hard looking tired and in need of some sleep. The team at the Eisteddfod have been absolutely terrific and I'd like to pay tribute to all those who have helped me during one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

It all started with a blog and bingo and it ends with me being asked to appear on the live show tonight in S4C before the closing concert.

So what were the highlights? Well, to have been given the honour of being a presenter for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales on the Maes is an obvious one. As I have written on this blog previously, I've worked at many an Eisteddfod but they were extremely brief stints. This time, I've been immersed in the whole event. I've watched performances, been invited to speak at a stand and got to know some of the competitors and winners.

I've met so many wonderful people this week. It would be difficult to list them all, but special mentions go to Julie Hawkins, winner of the Welsh Learner of the Year. Well done to Julie. She has a wonderful story and her interview last Sunday was one of the best of the week.

I'll never forget Tobi Jon, who came from Uzbekistan to check out the Eisteddfod. His intervention into the Radio Wales Phone-in on Wednesday was timely, as there were lots of listeners ringing or texting in to say that, because they had no Welsh, they wouldn't be welcome at the Eisteddfod and that elitism existed on the Maes. Tobi, however, had very little difficulty and received a huge warm welcome from Ebbw Vale. He'd explained to people on the stands that he didn't speak Welsh and he was welcomed with open arms. I even got him to say diolch (thanks) at the end of the interview.

Also, can I just say how much of a pleasure it was to meet Courtenay Hamilton. She is a trained classical singer, fluent in Welsh and hopes to follow in the footsteps of Katherine Jenkins. Oh, and by the way, she's the current Miss Wales! Very glamorous but such a down to earth 20-year-old.

Her dad was with her and asked me if I wanted to have my photo taken with her (shouldn't it have been the other way around?) Anyway, I posed for one and I have been guilty of showing it off a bit on my iPhone. Thanks Courtenay, and best of luck with your career.

You know, I speak more Welsh now than ever before. Now that my children are being taught through the medium of Welsh, we speak it on a daily basis. However, during this week, I've been going home and thinking in Welsh.

Yes, it's been a real test on times, but it really is true, that if you want to learn a language or get better at it, immersing yourself in it and the culture is the only way to do it.

I'd like to end this blog by sharing, perhaps the most emotional moment of the week for me. I recieved an invitation from Swansea University to speak at their stand on Wednesday. They asked me to say a few words about Yr Athro Hywel Teifi Edwards - my professor at Swansea when I studied Welsh there in 1992. Hywel died earlier this year and as I said earlier in the week, the Eisteddfod is just not the same without him.

Former students were invited to write their memories about Hywel on a board at the University stand and I told the story of a conversation I had with Hywel Teifi in my third year. I was having a few problems with some work on Sir TH Parry-Williams and Hywel reminded me of just how far I had come in learning the language, its tradition, literature and history. His vociferous words of encouragement rammed home just how important the language had become to me - he made it absolutely clear what it meant to speak Welsh.

Without those words of encouragement on a rainy afternoon in Swansea, who knows, I may not be here today - a sunnier day - broadcasting in Welsh from the Eisteddfod.

Diolch Hywel Teifi. Thank you.

For six days I went in circles around Maes A, improving my vocabulary from cynrhon to nwdls, hopefully not on the same plate.

I began with the same slight trepidation I felt 26 years ago in Lampeter, that at some point I would be told: "Butler, English-speaker, you have no right to be at the National Eisteddfod."

It didn't happen in Ebbw Vale. In fact, on Sunday, when every family in Blaenau Gwent seemed to turn up, the sounds of: "I don't speak Welsh myself, Ed, but my children do ..." became one of the refrains of the week.

Just behind the 10th tee at the West Monmouthshire Golf Club, the highest and most hospitable golf course in the UK, I had a moment to stare down on the multitude of tents at the northern end of the old steel works. It struck me that since that visit to Lampeter in1984, the year of the Miners' Strike, much has obviously vanished, never to be replaced: an entire deep coal-mining industry; steel-making on a grand scale.

And yet, Wales seems more self-assured now, less on the defensive. We live in troubled times in the short-term, with cuts threatening everything. You know it must be bad when Westminster dares to take scissors to the tail of the S4C dragon.

Over a 25-year cycle, however, perhaps S4C - and in a shorter time scale, devolution - have succeeded in providing a channel and a chamber for a new Wales.

I don't know. In fact, I'm not sure if feeling reassured as an English-speaker at the National Eisteddfod is entirely appropriate. This is cultural competition of the highest order, expressed in a single language that is anything but English. The Eisteddfod by definition is Wales at her most Welsh.

I suspect that my sense of helplessness on the Maes is healthy, an inversion of the threat to Welsh by an all-invading English language, a reminder of bad times past. I appreciate all that, but I am equally grateful that nobody made the point at the National Eisteddfod by prodding me in the chest with the nozzle of an ethnic cleanser.

On the contrary, everybody wrapped me in a warm embrace, and that may be a true sign of Wales, ancient, modern, in any language.

If you didn't catch me on the Louise and Mal show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales on Friday 6 August, fear not - as you can listen to this clip from my appearance:

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take their latest production Speechless to the , a powerful portrayal on the secret world of twin sisters who refused to communicate with the adult world and talked only to each other in their own language.

Speechless is inspired by the best-selling book The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace, and is co-produced by and Sherman Cymru. It is written by Linda Brogan and Polly Teale, who also directs the play.

It tells the extraordinary story of identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, who were born in Barbados but grew up in Haverfordwest following their parents' relocation to Wales.

The twins refused to speak to adults and communicated in their own private language, their only relationship being their intense and turbulent bond with each other. The girls turned to crime and were sent to Broadmoor after being convicted of arson, and spent 11 years there.

Speechless is an astonishing play about the twins' secret world, their special but destructive alliance and their struggle to find a voice against all odds.

Artistic Director of Shared Experience Teale said: "When I first encountered the story of the twins I couldn't get it out of my mind. That two young women so full of hope and aspiration should end up in Broadmoor after turning to violent crime seemed a modern tragedy.

"It seemed fitting on a project about twins and the relationship between black and white that this should be reflected in the making of the piece."

Demi Oyediran and Natasha Gordon (© Robert Day)

Speechless runs at the as part of the Edinburgh Festival until 29 August. The production will then be staged in Cardiff at the Bute Theatre, , from 15 September until 2 October.

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For the final time this week the state trumpet will be sounded to call the Gorsedd procession into the Pavilion. The Chair this offered this year for a poem or a series of poems in full strict metre on the subject of 'Gaining ground'.

Lets hope this year that someone will win after last year's disappointment where no one was awarded the chair. Watch the 2009 ceremony highlights below:

This year's chair was donated by the University Glamorgan. Read more about it on one of my previous posts..

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Calling all young budding film-makers... Children aged between five and 13 will be able to take part in free movie-making workshops in Swansea's Castle Square this month as the rolls into the city on 17 August.

Youngsters will be able to get a special insight into film-making in the Tate Movie Truck; a state-of-the-art creative learning studio, complete with sound studio space, computers and a screening facility. It is run by artists and film-makers from the Tate Gallery, as well as experts from .

The Tate Movie Project is a series of national roadshows, gallery workshops and online activities designed to create an animated film completely made by and for children.

Spaces for the workshops are likely to be limited, so get in there quickly. Contact the for further information.

The Tate Movie Project is also set to visit Haverfordwest and Aberystwyth - .Ìý

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Welsh actor Michael Sheen will be honoured at the in November with the award for British Artist of the Year.

British director Christopher Nolan, who has directed Hollywood blockbusters including Inception and The Dark Knight, will also be honoured at the ceremony for artistic excellence in directing. Stephen Fry will present the gala event in Los Angeles on 4 November.

Bafta/LA chairman Nigel Lythgoe commented: "We could not be more delighted about our first honorees of this year's Britannia Awards, representing two outstanding British talents."

"Chris Nolan is a visionary film-maker who continually raises the bar with each movie he makes, and Michael Sheen is an actor of immense depth who seamlessly tackles drama and comedic roles alike."

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On this evening's Arts Show, Nicola Heywood Thomas interviews the Oscar-winning American director of the 1970 documentary Woodstock.

Michael Wadleigh now lives in west Wales and will talk about the extraordinary story of making the documentary that chronicled the Woodstock Festival.

His crew included an unknown Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, who went on to edit Scorsese's films. In many ways, Woodstock captured a moment in history and defined a generation.

After Woodstock Wadleigh wrote and directed films in Hollywood before leaving the film industry to work in the field of environmental sustainability.

Listen to the show this evening at 6.30pm on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales, and for the subsequent seven days on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.

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Here's an excerpt from my appearance last week on the Jamie and Louise show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales last week with Chris Corcoran.

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Wednesday at the Eisteddfod saw the Prose Medal go to Jerry Hunter, originally from Cincinnati in Ohio, but who now lives in Penygroes, Dyffryn Nantlle.

Head over to our Eisteddfod site to read more, or watch the ceremony highlights.

Six Welsh artists are taking part in a painting marathon at Conwy Quay next weekend to raise funds for the 's education programme.

The artists will each paint and draw at the quayside on Saturday 14 August for an hour, and will then donate their art work to the RCA. The works will be exhibited at the academy's gallery until 13 September, after which the pieces will be auctioned.

Artists Maurice Cockrill and Karel Lek will work for an hour each in the morning, starting from 10am. While Jeremy Yates, David Lloyd Griffith, Daisy Wyn Griffith and Eleri Jones are all set to take part in the afternoon.

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So we're in the middle of the Radio Wales Phone-In when, as we're on the news, a young man comes to our studio and asks: are you Jason Mohammad? Yep! Turns out that Tobi Jon is from Uzbekistan, reads law, is in London and wanted to see what the Eisteddfod had to offer.

Moreover, he'd seen clips of my pilgrimage to Mecca, produced for S4C last year, on the internet.

I invited Tobi onto the programme and he was a wonderful contributor - charming with kind words about the Eisteddfod. You can hear it again on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.

Also good to see some of my old lecturers from Swansea University. I said a few words at their stand about Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards this afternoon, who died earlier this year. I studied Welsh under Hywel and he truly was an inspiration to so many people especially his students. Former students were also there and they were invited to write their memories about Yr Athro Hywel Teifi on a very special wall at the stand.

The Eisteddfod is just not the same without him.

Jason

Grace Roberts has been announced as the winner of the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize for an unpublished novel at the 2010 National Eisteddfod.

Roberts, from Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, was awarded the prestigious medal, and £5,000, for her novel Adenydd Gloyn Byw (Butterfly Wings), written under the pseudonym of Spot y Ci.

Born in Pensarn, Anglesey, she graduated in Welsh from Bangor University. She is a former librarian and Roberts also worked as a scriptwriter for 10 years on popular Welsh soap opera Pobol Y Cwm.

No stranger to the Eisteddfod, she won the Eisteddfod Môn Prose Medal in 1988 and has also been successful in the National Eisteddfod's short story competition three times.

Roberts was unable to write for around five years due to depression and a nervous breakdown, but overcame this to write Adenydd Gloyn Byw.

The novel tells the story of three generations of women in the same family; Megan, a 70-year-old widow, her daughter Rhiannon - a 40-year-old single mother - and Eira Mai, the 17-year-old granddaughter.

Roberts has previously published a volume of her radio musings, Sgyrsiau Hogiau yn Bennaf, a volume of short stories entitled Dyddiau Teisen Bwdin, and two novels. She has also had stories and articles published in magazines and other collections.

Watch a video of the ceremony on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Eisteddfod website.

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Wednesday marks the halfway point of the Eisteddfod, and the Prose Medal is awarded in the week's second big prize ceremony.

The medal this year is offered for a volume of creative prose, of no more than 40,000 words on the theme of adfywiad (revival).

Newly appointed Archdruid, T James Jones, will preside in his gold regalia over his second major ceremony in which members of the Gorsedd in their white, blue and green robes will take to the stage once again, this time to honour the winning writer.

Before the ceremony starts today, Welsh ex-pats will be welcomed to the Eisteddfod in the 'Welsh abroad' ceremony. Their leader this year is Edith MacDonald from Patagonia.

Ms MacDonald is a descendant of the early settlers of the Welsh colony in Patagonia who emigrated in 1865. They passed down the Welsh Eisteddfod culture, as well as the language, to their descendants who live mostly in the vicinity of the Chubut valley in Patagonia.

The Prose Medal winner last year was Siân Melangell Dafydd, who won on home turf in Bala and whose winning volume was inspired by her grandfather and his love of language. Watch last year's ceremony.

The adjudicators for this 2010 are Elfyn Pritchard, John Gruffydd Jones and Caryl Lewis. Elfyn Pritchard will deliver the adjudication on their behalf from the stage.

The ceremony starts at 16:30 and can be followed on the live feed page of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Eisteddfod website.

Acid Real, a new film by the former frontman of one of Wales' 1970s punk bands, premières at the next week.

was the lead singer with south Wales punk group The Tax Exiles, and has also recorded as a solo artist. He is now a writer and film-maker.

The Acid Real was filmed in Cardiff and the south Wales valleys. It has an original soundtrack by experimental composer Mike Kennedy, was filmed and edited by Hywel Griffith with readings and voice over by writer/director Evans.

Themes in this complex work include global warming, war on terror, vivisection, unemployment, social deprivation, wildlife and the natural world, loneliness and loss, and beauty and love.

Evans said: "The film is a postmodern documentary, a journey through Cardiff and the south Wales valleys. The Acid Real juxtaposes urbanisation with the natural world, and hopelessness and alienation against beauty and the power of love."

"The film is the product of an exciting collaboration, bringing together word, music and image in a way I've not seen before... It's contemporary art, for contemporary Wales."

The Acid Real screens at the Cardiff Arts Institute on Tuesday 10 August.

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I know the name in English of my bolthole on the Maes, but I am none the wiser. It is the "stack annealing basement".

In my family, thanks to my father's job at ICI Fibres in Pontypool, our industrial talk was confined to the properties of nylon. Could a human body levitate, we wondered, on a force-field of static electricity after sliding at full speed between two sheets of said fabric?

It means that the processes of making steel remain a mystery to me. The stack annealer basement has nevertheless become a little underground haven for a head scorched overground by the sun ripping through the thin air above the old Ebbw Vale works. The SAB has been transformed into Y Lle Celf, a home for delicate art on walls thick enough to make China's Three Gorges dam look like tissue paper.

I say that only to be able to use the only long Welsh word I know, in admiration of the gwrthgyferbyniad between concrete and canvas. And I love the lle, especially the long ramp going past the trio of canvasses by Manon Awst and Benjamin Walther. "On the Way to History" is my favourite, although I am still spooked at the point by the Paper Chain Dolls by Wendy Mayer. In any language these are troubling figures.

Next door to the Lle Celf is an even quieter spot, the community garden. On Saturated Sunday, when 25,000 poured gloriously through the dust storm, I found myself alone in the garden with a local woman and her dog. "He's misbehaving," she said, sitting her mutt down and giving him a hug.

I reached out a hand and he growled. I returned to the photos of the works in their heyday and in decline. They made nearly 17 million tons of steel at Ebbw Vale before they tore down the blast furnaces. I found out what they did in a stack annealing basement: heat great coils of steel to soften them before rolling.

Now it's an art gallery that pulls me back, past the disturbing paper chain dolls.

An extremely busy day on the Maes for me and perhaps a sign of things to come.

It's not very often I need a little siesta during worktime but the lovely Caryl who is shipping the presenters up and down the A470 (Huw Llywelyn Davies, Sara Gibson and Hywel Gwynfryn) was waiting for me at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ after my radio programme and didn't mind at all when I asked her if I could have a quick nap on the way up to Ebbw Vale at 2.30pm.

Huw Stephens was playing some cool tracks on Radio One but sorry Huw, I fell asleep just south of Merthyr, but boy did I feel ready for an afternoon of filming at the Eisteddfod.

Two hours of radio and then filming at the Eisteddfod is obviously taking its toll! But hey, I'm having fun and earning many plaudits from the Maes. People have been so kind in praise of my work on S4C's Mwy o'r Maes. So glad you're all enjoying the programme.

And in case you're wondering what presenters talk about amongst themselvs on a 35 minute journey from Cardiff to Ebbw Vale I'll take you in to the back seat of our seven-seater vehicle. Sorry, nothing glamorous - no gossip. But blogs. Hywel is writing a blog in Welsh so cue a conversation about blogging. Did you know he's on Facebook? I didn't. Anyway, seeing as we're both fairly new to the world of the blog, we both agreed that we've found it all rather exciting.

So back to today. It was a pleasure to catch up with Helen Price from Blackwood. I've spoke to all four finalists now in the Dysgwr y Flwyddyn (Learner of the Year) and no way I am going to say who I think will win; they have all been so charming and great in front of camera. But I have to complement Helen on her accent. Her inspiration to learn Welsh came via her grandfather from Senghennydd who she remembers using a few words. She started learning just a couple of years ago, is now fluent and uses it on a daily basis in her job. What is truly remarkable is that she also has a terrific accent.

You would never have thought she came from a non-Welsh speaking background and, as I so eloquently put it to her in tonight's interview: "Ti ddim yn siarad fel Gwentie!" ("You don't talk like a Gwentie".

No offence to any Gwenties out there of course. She enjoyed the compliment and I wished her all the very best. Good luck to Dai, Shirley, Helen and Julia.

We're doing the radio show live tomorrow from the Maes - pop along and see us. That's if I'm awake of course!

Nos da.

Jason

Rhodri Miles has won the Best International Artist award at the inaugural for his portrayal of Welsh icon Richard Burton.

Rhodri Miles in character as Richard Burton (images © Kirsten McTernan)

Burton is a one-man show, written by Gwynne Edwards and directed by Hugh Thomas, that showcases the life of the great Welsh actor.

It depicts Burton's often hilarious, melancholic, self-deprecating take on life from humble beginnings in Pontrhydyfen to Hollywood stardom, and culminates in his acrimonious first divorce from Elizabeth Taylor.

Miles, who has previously starred in Welsh dramas High Hopes, Torchwood, Pobol Y Cwm and film Eastern Promises, was born in Pontarddulais - just six miles away from Burton's birthplace.

He picked up the award while performing 11 shows at Theatre Asylum and Theatre of Note in Hollywood. Supported by , he was the only Welsh representative at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Miles has performed Burton in various venues across Wales and also took the production to the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

He said: "I've always wanted to play Richard Burton. He was a great thespian actor, an alcoholic womaniser who often said that his natural disposition to the Celtic gloom was caused by the mist in the hills and the black in the coal, all of it seeping into his very being.

"When you think of Welsh iconic figures, he's one of them."

Rhodri Miles will star in Burton at the on Saturday 28 August 2010 at 7.30pm.

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I haven't had an anxiety dream for years. I think the last ones were probably due to a childhood phobia of swimming I had in the late 80s, and in general I'm quite a laid back person.

I don't beep the horn too much, I've never cut up a partner's clothing and thrown it into a canal whilst screaming "it's the look on your face I HATE," and I used to laugh at John McEnroe, thinking smugly to myself "why is he making all that fuss? It's only tennis." I have been suffering from anxiety dreams of late, however, and these are exclusively to do with the .

Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Elis James, comedian, writer, and guest blogger during this month's Edinburgh Festival.

I think I should explain what the festival is first, before I start moaning about it. It's the world's largest arts festival; it runs for the whole month of August and, if you weren't sure from the title, it's held in Edinburgh.

Thousands of performers from all over the world will take over the Scottish capital for four weeks, whilst local people watch some shows, rent out matchbox-sized parts of their flats at extortionate rates to people too desperate to quibble, mutter to themselves angrily that Princes Street is too crowded during the day, and secretly love the fact that Glasgow has nothing to compare with it.

It's the comedy section of the festival that I'm concerned with, and this year I'll be performing my second solo show which I'm writing at the minute.

Now, this is where the anxiety dreams set in.

There are an estimated 2,500 shows on at Edinburgh, about 850 of which are comedy, and thus I suppose it had better be good. It's like taking meat to a barbecue - you'll be given short shrift by your hosts if you turn up with some gone off Winalot you've fashioned into sausage shapes, which you try to pass off as Tesco Finest chipolatas.

Worryingly for me the world's finest comedians are there, thus raising the standard to an annoyingly high rate, and so expectations are high across the board. Also, having been to Edinburgh a couple of times now, I will get reviewed by all manner of people, which terrifies me in a way I find difficult to explain.

The broadsheet newspaper I have read every day since I was 18 is going to review my show this year apparently. If I get slammed by them I may as well ask Shoot! Magazine to come along, just so I can get criticized by every publication I've ever ordered from a newsagent. I wonder if Wizzer and Chips runs a review section. That'll complete the set.

You're probably wondering why I'm putting myself through this. Well. I love comedy. Really, really love it in the same way a football obsessive can be as happy watching Sunday morning pub football as they are an FA Cup Semi-Final, I will gladly discuss why Tizer is a funnier drink than Sprite until I'm told to go home or social services are called. I am also unable to hold down a real job, and thus writing a new show for Edinburgh is a sort of must, because:

1. I can't move back in with my parents as I'm 29, and
   
2. Dad's still angry about the Blu-Tack stains I left on the wall when I took down my Radiohead posters in 1997.

And so my hands are tied. It's comedy or gun running, and not only am I chronically unfit but I have a pretty limited knowledge of the criminal underworld.

With less than a week to go until the festival starts, I am finalising the show at preview gigs up and down the country, ie I go on stage with a notebook and a dictaphone, and during the day try to shape these recordings into something worth hearing.

These shows are billed as Edinburgh previews and are often double bills with another comedian doing the same thing, and the audience is aware of what's happening (apart from the woman in Swansea who walked out on me a few weeks ago, 'FOR HAVING THE CHEEK TO PRACTICE ON HER!' It's like when a band do new songs at a gig, or as part of a radio session, but I don't have a tourbus, merchandise, or drugs hidden in my equipment which I smuggle unawares into other countries.

So. I have written a show called , and will perform it every day at a venue called The Tron on Hunter Square, at 7.40pm. By the next blog I'll have an idea of how it's going, and will promote the show either by:

1. lying and saying it's good, or
   
2. bashfully admitting that it's going well and ask if you fancy coming.

I'll also have an idea of which shows are hot and will let you know, and will fill you in on any japes I get up to with my flatmates - I am in digs with three hard living, hard drinking comedians, so will let you know if our flat is like the last days of Rome (or the last days of Crossroads).

It will probably be like fresher's week, but every now and then one of us will burst into tears because "someone on Twitter has said that my show lacks foc....oh yeah focus".

See you on the other side.

Elis

Welsh actor and director Daniel Evans has spoken on the importance of engaging both Welsh and non-Welsh speakers in bilingual theatre in Wales.

Daniel Evans © Claire Newman-Williams

The actor has called on the Welsh language national theatre, , to reach out to English speaking audiences if it is to thrive, saying that contemporary drama offered by the company should be a truly bilingual experience.

""In the past, all of the shows have had surtitles but they need to provide a truly bilingual experience, which I'm sure would reach non-Welsh speakers as much as Welsh speakers," he says.

"It's great to put on a piece by Saunders Lewis, but you're in danger of ignoring an entire part of the sector in Wales - non-Welsh speakers."

Evans, a winner of two prestigious Olivier Awards, is acting as the honorary president at this week's National Eisteddfod. A discussion on the future of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru is set to be held at the Eisteddfod this afternoon.

Read more on the story on the .

Filming off the Maes this afternoon and when you're at the Eisteddfod it always feels a bit strange leaving when there's so much going on.

Still gives me the chance to tell you that Theatr Genedlaethol (the National Theatre) are hard at work at the Met Theatre in Abertillery. Just poked my head round rehearsals and it looks fantastic.

The costume designer says all is going well for the opening night tomorrow. Theatre is just so exhilarating - I wanted to be a stage actor when I was younger so I always like chatting to cast and crew and seeing them hard at work. Good luck to all involved. Tickets are available from the Met or on the Maes.

We're doing a feature on "Gwlad yr Addewid" on tonight's Mwy o'r Maes programme on S4C. I'm in the back of a car writing this on my phone (that's how busy it us here folks!). TV crew are heading back to the Maes for a well earned cup of tea!

This blog is being updated with the most recent news added to the bottom of the page. To watch the ceremony live on our Eisteddfod site click here.

16:35 - The trumpet is sounded to call the Gorsedd procession into the Pavilion lead by the herald bard.

They are followed by the Gorsedd members in their white, blue and green robes. Each colour denotes a particular rank. The procession is made up of poets, writers, musicians, artists and people that have made a distinct contribution to the Welsh nation, language and culture.

Robin o Fôn the sword keeper, better know as Robin McBride, the former Wales rugby international, walks into the Pavilion with the sword of peace.

The newly appointed Jim Parc Nest (T. James Jones) has taken over the Archdruid duties from the late Dic yr Hendre. T. James Jones won the Crown twice, in 1986 and 1988, as well as the Chair in 2007.

16:39 - Before the ceremony starts the Archdruid invites guests from the Celtic nations to join him on the stage for the ceremony. The guests come from Scotland, Cornwall, Ireland, Patagonia, Brittany and the Isle of Man.

The representative for Scotland reads a passage on behalf of all the representatives.

16:45 - The trumpeters sound the state trumpet four times for all four corners of the Pavilion to stand, followed by the offering of the Gorsedd prayer.

16:49 -The Archdruid gives his best wishes to Selwyn Iolen, the deputy Archdruid, who cannot attend due to illness.

16:50 -There is an added poignancy to this year's ceremony as one of the adjudicators, Iwan Llwyd, died in May of this year. The Archdruid reads out a poem in remembrance to Iwan Llwyd, and asks the audience to stand in his honour. He was crowned himself in the Rhymney Eisteddfod of 1990.

16:53 - The Archdruid invites the adjudicators to the stage, where the adjudication is read by former winner Mererid Hopwood. She announces that the winner is the poet with the pseudonym 'Barcud Fyth'

17:03 - The Archdruid thanks the adjudicators and when the state trumpet sounds asks that 'Barcud Fyth' and only 'Barcud Fyth' stands. The lights dim in the Pavilion and a spotlight searches the audience for the winner.

A lady stands in the audience.

The mistress of the robes dresses the winner in her robes and escorts her to the stage.

17:06 - The Archdruid announces the winner as Glenys Mair Glyn Roberts from Llantrisant.

17:09 - The sword of Peace is raised above her head before the Archdruid asks the audience three times 'Is there peace?' before asking the newly appointed bard to sit in the peace of the Eisteddfod.

The Crown bearers' carry the Crown over to the Archdruid where he places the Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod 2010 on Glenys's head.

17:11 - The crowning song is sung by Gavin Rhydfelin followed by poems read out by last year's crown winner, Ceri Wyn, and last year's prose medal winner Sian Melangell.

17:17 - Girls from local schools perform the flower dance as part of the ceremony before Glenys is presented with the horn of plenty by the masters of the court, and a floral tribute of wild Welsh flowers presented by the maids of the court.

The Archdruid brings the procession to a close with the Welsh National Anthem.

17:30 - The procession leaves the stage and the Pavilion.

A script written by students, on tackling the isolation of deafness, is to be made into a film starring Wrexham-born deaf actor David Bower, most recognisable for his role in British hit film Four Weddings And A Funeral.

Little Voices, written by Chris McFall and to be produced by Chris Colton and Glen Biesker, tells the story of a bereaved and isolated deaf man struggling to cope with losing his partner.

Bower is set to play the lead character in the micro-budget film after being impressed by the script, with the three postgraduate film students from the (a lead partner of Screen Academy Wales) having carefully researched pre-linguistic deafness.

From left to right: Chris McFall, David Bower and Chris Colton

Bower commented: "The research for this film has allowed a substantial philosophical underlying energy which underpins the story. A lot of film scripts concerning disability or deafness are 'well meaning pap', whereas this piece is unsentimental and uncompromising.

"To me it is a strong metaphorical description of the semantic divide between deaf and hearing people and explores an interesting area of human perception and communication. The script is edgy, punky and gritty, and from an acting point of view should be fun to do."

Writer and director Chris McFall said: "We are thrilled to have such a renowned British actor taking part in the film, but more importantly the right actor.

"Regarding David's looks, attitude, and background but most importantly David's ability to express great depth of character, without needing to speak a single line, that is a rare talent."

The postgraduate student crew plan to work closely with members of the deaf community throughout the process, and hope to show the film in local schools to increase awareness of hearing impediments.

It is planned that Little Voices will start shooting in early August for four weeks, with a final completion date set for February 2011.

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Cardiff-based animation firm has announced plans to go into voluntary liquidation.

The company, which specialises in children's animation and has its current series Igam Ogam broadcasting on S4C and Five's Milkshake children's segment, has said the move was necessary after a hoped-for investment in the company's future did not materialise.

Calon have previously won BAFTAs for shows such as SuperTed, Under Milk Wood, Hilltop Hospital and Hana's Helpline.

Read more on the story on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales News website.

, a major new bilingual website for the people of Wales, has been launched today at the 2010 National Eisteddfod of Wales by Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones.

This groundbreaking project enables users to research, explore and share the cultural history of Wales.

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys explains a little about the website:

The project has been funded by the and has been created with input from major bodies in Wales such as the , the Welsh Museums Archives and Libraries association (CyMAL), and the .

Read more about the project on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales history blog, and visit the .

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Simon Fenoulhet and Natalia Dias have been awarded the Gold Medals for Fine Art and Craft and Design respectively at the 2010 National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Artist Simon Fenoulhet from Cardiff scooped the medal plus £3,000 for his light installations Vivid Seam and Line Upon Line, having not previously exhibited at the National Eisteddfod.

He said: "I use light as my primary means of presenting and changing the objects I employ. Glowing tubes or straws can be transformed by the simple act of making the light come from within rather than reflecting off the surface.

"They stand in isolation from their surroundings as the only source of illumination and take on a beauty and iridescence that is not normally associated with household objects."

Another Eisteddfod newcomer, Nerea Martinez de Lecea - who is based in the Rhondda, was awarded £2,000 in the Fine Art section for her still and moving images.

This year's visual arts exhibition, Y Lle Celf, is situated in the stack annealer basement - one of the underground buildings that used to hold the heavy steel rolling machines at the former steelworks site.

Meanwhile, Cardiff-based Portugese artist Natalia Dias collected the Gold Medal for Craft and Design, along with £3,000, for her collection of allegorical ceramic works. It is also the first time that the artist has exhibited at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Selector John Selway commented: "Natalia Dias' ceramics are probably the most visceral and beautiful pieces of work that I have seen in this medium in a long time."

Originally from Portugal, Dias studied Restoration and Decorative Studies at Portsmouth University before gaining a degree in ceramics at Cardiff School of Art and Design in 2009.

"This body of work is a surreal mix of fact and fantasy," said the artist. "These desirable objects - visceral candy and religious innuendo - have been inspired by the flamboyant 16th century French Palissy Ware. Adopted later, around the 19th century, by Portuguese artists, this longstanding tradition is now in threat of extinction.

"I am now drawing my own cultural identity closer to the art education that I have received in Wales and creating ceramic hybrids from both influences."

Pembrokeshire studio jeweller Paul Preston was also awarded £2,000 in the Craft and Design section.

Read more about the arts medals on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Eisteddfod website.

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Sunday boasted high attendance figures at the Eisteddfod, largely due to the free ticket scheme financed by the Welsh Assembly. Just over 25,000 people walked through the gates of the old steel works, 10,000 more than last year at Bala.

Monday sees the start of the ceremonies at the Pavilion beginning with the Crown. It should be an exciting event with it being Jim Parc Nest's first ceremony as Archdruid, as well as a way of remembering Iwan Llwyd, a previous crown winner himself and adjudicator for this years contest. Iwan sadly past away earlier this year.

I will be doing a live blog during the ceremony keeping you up to date with the unfolding events, so come back to the blog later this afternoon. You can also watch the ceremony live on our Eisteddfod website.

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I made the mistake of leaving a book catalogue in the bag when I gave the children their new book from the Maes when I arrived back home in Cardiff. Now, I have a shopping list as long as my arm!

Never mind, I really enjoy buying them books. They're all actually coming to the Eisteddfod later this week. Lili's looking forward to hearing music and song, and Max is looking forward to having a go at the rugby and football skills (chip off the old block!).

Anyway, I write at my desk at Radio Wales at Broadcasting House in Cardiff as I'm back to my day job of presenting The Phone-In before heading up to the Maes straight after to continue my role on Mwy.

It feels a bit strange not being at the Eisteddfod this morning having had two very enjoyable but hard-working days there. Still I'm sure the guys will cope without me. Also, it's great to know that so many of you are enjoying this blog. Thank you for your kind words.

Today I'm chatting to another finalist in the Dysgwr y Flywddyn before reporting on Theatr Genedlaethol's Welsh translation of House Of America by Ed Thomas. Gwlad yr Addewid is a story of a family's battle against their own circumstances and the end of an American dream in a bypassed industrial town in south Wales in the 1980s. So looking forward to that. Edrych ymlaen.

It's amazing how much Welsh I'm using too. You know it really is true that the only way of improving any language that you have learnt is by using it all day, every day. I'm actually thinking in Welsh now so don't be surprised if I begin every conversation on the programme today with a "Shwmae!"

Hwyl am y tro.

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If you haven't seen it already, there's a great story on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales News website about a hidden gem in a mid Wales charity shop that seasoned bargain hunters could only dream of.

An employee at the Red Cross shop in Aberaeron, Ceredigion discovered a limited edition print signed by artist LS Lowry of a framed scene of St Luke's Church in London. The artwork has since been auctioned for £400.

Read the story in full on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales News site.

It turns out the salad bar is a few steps away from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ office. It takes a few days to get to grips with the Maes but the salad was well worth waiting for. I can thoroughly recommend the sweet potato, tomato and cucumber special - extremely good.

It's always good to see sports commentator Alun Wyn Bevan on the Maes. We had a great chat about sporting greats from Gwent which you can see tonight in the highlights programme on S4C.

Alun was speaking at Maes D and I caught up with him a few moments later and he spoke passionately about Welsh rugby international and Olympian Ken J Jones. He was born in Blaenavon and Alun goes through his career and achievements in tonight's programme. One point that emerges: there's no place in Alun's list for a certain Calzaghe. Discuss.

Anyway, there were more photos and autographs on the Maes today with the good folk of Blaenau Gwent. Most are asking "Where's Derek the weather?" and "When's Sport Wales coming back?" Mr Brockway, I have the pleasure in telling you, will be on the Maes tomorrow, and Sport Wales is back on Friday.

I managed to watch some of the competition today. The singing in the choir competition this afternoon was truly stunning.

Julie Hawkins popped in for a chat too. She's a finalist in the Welsh Learner of the Year competition and her story is truly inspirational. She had very little Welsh, but after travelling to Tanzania and Vietnam she moved back to Wales to ensure that her children were born here. She wanted them to go to a Welsh medium school and be fluent.

She is now using her Welsh on a daily basis with her children and her job. Again, Julie's interview is on the Mwy o'r Maes programme on S4C at 7pm.

I told you I couldn't wait to spend my money. I walked past a book stall, started chatting to a lady in Welsh and we began discussing books and family. She'd heard me talking on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales about my children so she asked me for their names. I told her all about Lili, Max and Poppy - then she took me to a bookshelf and out popped Amser Gwely Popi a Macs, a children's book about Popi and Macs' bedtime routine!

They'll love it. Wonder if it will the ease the chaos of bed time? I doubt it.

Hope you like the snazzy shirt, by the way!

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Bore da! There was a wonderful atmosphere on the Maes today - lots of families out and about, many of them enjoying the Eisteddfod for the very first time.

I've had a very brief look around the Maes - I can't wait to get some time to spend some money on books and T-shirts, but given my hectic schedule that may well have to wait until the end of the week.

Anyway, I do have a bit of a problem. I struggled to find a healthy lunch yesterday (chips everywhere) and reluctantly settled for a big box of curry.

Now I don't want to bore you with my eating habits, but I don't eat much during the day, but when I do, I like to eat light - so where's the salad bar? What, no beetroot? No tomatoes? There you go. If you know, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll say hwyl for now and begin my quest for a beetroot salad!

But before that, I'm talking Welsh sport with Alun Wyn Bevan today and really looking forward to meeting another Learner of the Year finalist, Julia Hawkins.

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