Conversations at the Chapel – Professor Angela V John

In conversation with Dr Peter Wakelin.

Biographer and historian, Angela John has made lifelong contributions to women’s history, labour history and biography. Her books include By The Sweat of their Brow: Women Workers at Victorian Coal Mines, Rocking the Boat: Welsh Women who Championed Equality 1840-1990 and studies of Lady Rhondda, the novelist, journalist and suffragette Evelyn Sharp and businesswoman and translator of The Mabinogion Lady Charlotte Guest.

Angela’s book The Actor’s Crucible traced the extraordinary concentration of actors from her hometown, Port Talbot, including Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Sheen and Rob Brydon. As a young woman she got to know Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at the height of their fame and her most recent biography is of Richard Burton’s mentor, the teacher, writer and radio producer Philip Burton. She advised on the 2025 feature film, Mr Burton. Angela is President of the society for people’s history Llafur and a member of the panel that recently installed five public statues of Monumental Welsh Women.

Peter Wakelin chairs the Board of Cadw and is President of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales. His books include Hidden Histories: Discovering the Heritage of Wales, Hill-rhythms: David Jones + Capel-y-ffin, Refuge and Renewal: Migration and British Art and several artist monographs.

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