Q 01/05

In which Welsh city was Dylan Thomas born on 27 October 1914?

A) Newport

B) Swansea

C) Cardiff

D) Bangor

Answer · why

B) Swansea

Dylan Thomas was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in the Uplands district of Swansea and kept the house as his base until his parents moved out in 1937, writ...

Q 02/05

From which collection of Welsh tales did Dylan Thomas's father take his son's first name?

A) The Mabinogion

B) The Black Book of Carmarthen

C) The Chronicle of the Princes

D) The Book of Aneirin

Answer · why

A) The Mabinogion

The Mabinogion tells of Dylan ail Don, a boy who makes for the sea at his baptism. In Welsh the name sounds like 'Dullan', but Thomas insisted on 'Dil...

Q 03/05

What was the profession of Dylan Thomas's father, Jack?

A) Customs and excise officer

B) Methodist minister

C) Grammar-school English teacher

D) Ship's chief engineer

Answer · why

C) Grammar-school English teacher

Grammar-school English teacher Jack Thomas was senior English master at the school his son later attended, and read Shakespeare aloud to Dylan from in...

Q 04/05

What sporting feat did Dylan Thomas pull off as a schoolboy, to his lifelong pride?

A) He captained the cricket XI

B) He won the county high jump

C) He scored a cup-final hat-trick

D) He won the mile race

Answer · why

D) He won the mile race

He won the mile race at his school's sports day, and carried the local newspaper's photograph of his victory with him for the rest of his life.

Q 05/05

For which newspaper did the 16-year-old Dylan Thomas work as a reporter after leaving school in 1931?

A) The South Wales Argus

B) The Cambrian News

C) The South Wales Daily Post

D) The Western Mail

Answer · why

C) The South Wales Daily Post

The South Wales Daily Post took him on as a junior reporter, but he left within two years and made poetry his main work.