Y Talwrn
Contents |
Host
Gwyn Williams (1979-mid 80s)
Dic Jones (1985-99)
Gerallt Lloyd Owen (2000-)
Stand-ins: Twm Morys, Meirion McIntyre
Co-hosts
Adjudicator: Gerallt Lloyd Owen
Scorers: Unknown (1977-98)
Broadcast
BBC Radio Cymru, 1979-present
Telesgôp for S4C, 2005?-present
Synopsis
To put it simply, Y Talwrn is one of the oddest quiz shows around yet it's still one of the mainstays of Radio Cymru.
Over the course of ten rounds, two teams of poets have to come up with poems, lines and limericks about a given subject. The host (Mr. Lloyd Owen) then gives out points but not before a long (and I do mean long) summary of what he made of their material.
The series is a tournament affair involving as many as 64 teams from across Wales. Eventually, the top two teams from the series will go through to a final held at the Literary Pavilion of the National Eisteddfod.
For the past couple of years, an annual televised contest has been featured to mark the annual all-Wales Cerdd Dant Festival.
Rounds
Round 1: Two-line couplet
Round 2: Satirical verse
Round 3: Four-line poem including a given line
Round 4: Song (in 20 lines or less)
Round 5: Poem (in 12 lines or less)
Round 6: Limerick
Round 7: Line including a given word
Round 8: Mise-en-scene
Round 9: Lyric
Round 10: Poem on a given subject
Trivia
The title translates as The Cockpit (as in an arena of combat).
Originally known as Talwrn y Beirdd (The Poets Cockpit)
Theme tune
Up until 1998, the theme was Strauss' Perpetuum Mobile. The current theme is a piece by the duo Rheinallt H. Rowlands.
Web links
Official site in Welsh
Broadcasting the Bards - A Transdiffusion article on the series
