Myfanwy Howell

Myfanwy Howell was an early Welsh language radio and television broadcaster, host of Amser Te (Tea Time) in the 1950s.

Myfanwy Howell
Myfanwy Howell
Born1 September 1903
Llangefni, Anglesey
Died14 November 1988
Newport
NationalityWelsh
OccupationBroadcaster

Early life

Howell was from Llangefni, Anglesey.[1] She was related to poet Denise Levertov's mother, Beatrice Spooner-Jones Levertoff.[2][3] Scientist John Charnley remembered knowing Myfanwy Howell in Anglesey when he was a teenager evacuated to the island during World War II.[4]

Career

Broadcasting

In the early 1940s, during World War II, Howell was on radio with the BBC Home Service, contributing Welsh-language content on diet and for schoolchildren.[5][6][7]

In the 1950s Howell was a program assistant in early radio and television productions based in Bangor,[8][9] including Noson Lawen (A Merry Evening).[10] In 1952 and 1954 she gave the "shopping report" on the BBC radio program Woman's Hour.[11][12] In 1952, she gave a recipe for Aberffrauw cakes (a shortbread variety associated with Anglesey) on Welsh Diary on the BBC's General Overseas Service, when Welsh speakers abroad requested recipes on the program.[13] In 1954, she hosted a special Welsh-themed edition of the BBC television program Leisure and Pleasure.[14] She appeared in a 1958 trial weekly series, Awyr Iach (Open Air) with Ron Saunders.[15]

Howell became well-known as the presenter on the TWW programme Amser Te (Tea Time), the network's long-running[16] weekly Welsh-language afternoon program for women viewers, beginning in 1958.[15] The show featured recipes, interviews, competitions, musical guests,[17] live and filmed segments; "Howell's homely style of presenting endeared the audience to her."[18] The program's baking segments were popular enough to publish Tea Time Recipes, a cookbook of the recipes featured on the show in 1962,[19] and a sequel, Tea Time Round the World.[20]

Other activities

Howell was also a justice of the peace.[1] In 1949 she became the first chair of the Welsh Counties Committee of the Women's Institute.[21] In 1954 she participated in the opening ceremonies of the National Eisteddfod, on behalf of the Women's Institute.[22]

Personal life

Myfanwy Howell's husband was Illtyd Howell. They lived in Newport.[2] Some of their letters are in the Denise Levertov Papers at Stanford University.[23]

References
  1. "Myfanwy Howell – Teledu yng ngwlad y gân ⁄ Television in the land of song ⁄ cyflwyniad Transdiffusion presentation". Teledu yng ngwlad y gân ⁄ Television in the land of song ⁄ cyflwyniad Transdiffusion presentation (in Welsh). 23 May 1960. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  2. Levertov, Denise (1981). Light Up the Cave. New Directions Publishing. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-8112-0813-0.
  3. Hallisey, Joan F. (Winter 1982). "Denise Levertov's "Illustrious Ancestors": The Hassidic Influence". MELUS. 9 (4): 5–11. doi:10.2307/467606. JSTOR 467606.
  4. Thomas Lean (2010). "National Life Stories: An Oral History of British Science: Sir John Charnley" The British Library. page 49.
  5. "BBC Home Service Basic". BBC Genome. 18 July 1940. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  6. "Awr Y Plant". The Radio Times. No. 931. 1 August 1941. p. 14. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  7. "BBC Home Service Basic". BBC Genome. 27 April 1942. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  8. "Atgofion BBC Bangor // BBC Bangor Memories". BBC Cymru Fyw (in Welsh). 27 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  9. Dyddiau cynnar ym Mangor: ar achlysur dathlu Jiwbili Arian y B.B.C. yng Nghymru cyflwynir detholiad o rai o'r rhaglenni cyntaf a ddarlledwyd o Fangor (in Welsh). B.B.C. 1948.
  10. Howell, Myfanwy. "A Merry Evening in Wales" BBC Yearbook 1949. pp. 40-42.
  11. "Light Programme". BBC Genome. 9 October 1952. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  12. "Woman's Hour". The Radio Times. No. 1618. 12 November 1954. p. 37. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  13. "To Welshmen in their Exile". The Evening Advocate. 4 August 1952. p. 2. Retrieved 7 March 2020 – via Trove.
  14. "Invalid Handicraft". The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal. 1 October 1954. p. 1. Retrieved 7 March 2020 – via Trove.
  15. "TWW Television Wales and West". Dinosaur Discs. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  16. Crozier, Mary (12 October 1960). "Servants of Two Tongues". The Guardian. p. 7. Retrieved 8 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Hogiau Bryngwran". Discogs. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  18. Medhurst, Jamie (20 February 2015). A History of Independent Television in Wales. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-1-78316-405-9.
  19. Howell, Myfanwy (1962). Television Weekly presents Tea Time Recipes: As shown on TWW's Amser Te (2nd ed.). Hereford: Television Weekly. OL 23992643M.
  20. "Tea Time Round The World by Myfanwy Howell". AbeBooks. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  21. "Powys Montgomery Panel". Casgliad y Werin Cymru (in Welsh). Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  22. "Record Attendance at First Day of National Eisteddfod". The Guardian. 3 August 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 8 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Guide to the Denise Levertov Papers". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
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