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January 14, 2011
South Wales: Swansea Jacks? In Bergen County, NJ, right?
Well, no. But we know that you've never been anywhere--and that you're not the least bit curious about Anything East of Bermuda. Another "Second City", but a key one, Swansea, Wales is roughly to Cardiff, Wales what Manchester, England is to London. Vikings settled in this area on the South Wales coast in 1013, when they took it from local Anglo-Saxons. Later, in the 1100s, Normans founded the town of Swansea. It became a major industrial center and port by the 18th century, and now mixes manufacturing with an increasingly thriving services industry. About 230,000 people live here. Dylan Thomas started out here in 1914, and ended his life prematurely in Manhattan in 1953 by doing something not even most world-class degenerates (i.e., Raoul Duke, W.C. Fields, Holden Oliver) would try at home. In 1969, the highly correct, wonderful and close-to-WAC/P-perfect actress Catherine Zeta Jones was born in Swansea. Jones still speaks fluent Welsh and has an oceanside home here. Her son, with American actor Michael Douglas, was born in 2000. His name is Dylan.
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High Street, 1907
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)