Welsh firsts

From Ffaith

• Wales was the first Industrialised Nation
• The first The Cheltenham Gold Cup was won by a Welshman, Dick Rees who was also the first jockey to win 100 races in a season
• The first ever Lonsdale Belt was won by a Welshman, named Welsh
• Wales is home to Britain's oldest university
• The first board of health in England and Wales was established in Brynmawr, south Wales
• The first European brewery to sell canned beer was Felinfoel in Llanelli
• The first independent CD manufacturer, in the world, was Nimbus Records of Monmouth
• The first benefactor of Yale University was Elihu Yale of Llanarmon yn Iâl
• Cardiff City were the first non-English team to win the FA Cup
• The Mumbles to Swansea railroad was the First passenger train service
• The World's first steam locomotive, ran for 15 and a half kilometers between Penydarren, Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon
• The first cricketer to hit six sixes off an over did it in Glamorgan
• The very first World Amateur Snooker Champion was Gary Owen of Tumble
• Jesse James, the first daylight bank robber had Welsh parents
• The first official World Flyweight Champion was Jimmy Wilde of Merthyr Tydfil
• The first Trotskyist candidate to stand for election to Parliament stood at a Neath by-election
• John Charles was the first ever British footballer to be transferred to a European football club
• In 2006 Neath girl Katherine Jenkins became the first British classical Artist to notch up four consecutive number one albums.
• Leighton Rees of Pontypridd was the first ever World Darts Champion
• The first player to score over 1000 international career points in Rugby was Neil Jenkins
• At the 1900 election Merthyr Tydfil returned the first Labour Party Member of Parliament
• Mail order shopping originated in Newtown, mid-Wales
• Tredegar's Ray Reardon was the first number one in Snooker when world rankings were introduced in 1976
• The first Snooker World Cup in 1979 was won by Wales, beating England 14-3 in the final.
• John Davies, born in Dugwm Isaf compiled and published the first Tahitian/English Dictionary in 1851
• Tom Whittaker, the son of a Welsh Army officer, became the first amputee to successfully climb Mount Everest
• The First passenger carrying hovercraft in regular service travelled from Rhyl to Merseyside.
• First recorded steam train journey with passengers was made at Penydarren --- built by Richard Trevithick
• The Cardiff pioneer Ernest Willows made the first airship crossing from England to France
• The world's first wireless transmission took place in Wales.