One of the most fascinating areas that my research has uncovered are the many deep connections between this remote Welsh valley and the broader world. Here are just a few of the more interesting direct connections that the book contains:
The pioneering Darracq Car Company of Paris and London
The invention of Linoleum
The largest private colliery company in Britain in the 1920s
Two Members of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme
Classic counterpoise desk lamps
The founding of the London Marathon
The Anti-Bolshevik White Army’s participation in the Russian Civil War
The “pirate accent” that was first heard in the film “Treasure Island”
The Hartley jam empire
Oakeley, the largest underground slate mine in the world
The Kerry Tramway, near Newtown
R & G Cuthbert's, Britain’s leading seller of packet seeds
And even, possibly, to Jack the Ripper