Ancient Cardiff – Vale Of Glamorgan Now 21st Century Media Mecca
The Welsh capital Cardiff – Vale of Glamorgan has become a capital of European sports.
The city has been home to many popular UK sports stars. Among them have been Colin Jackson and Tanni Grey-Thompson, as well as many Premier League, Football League and international football players. The latter have included Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur), Terry Yorath (Leeds United), Craig Bellamy (Manchester City), and the Wales national football team manager John Toshack (Liverpool).
Today Cardiff serves as the capital of Wales, its largest city and the seat of government, industry and culture. The last shouldn’t be unexpected, as the city boasts among its native sons such luminaries as Ivor Novello, the 20th century musical star recalled in the movie “Gosford Park”; popular children’s author Roald Dahl, for whom a street, Roald Dahl Plass, is named; and author and screenwriter Terry Nation, who created the Daleks, the perennial robotic nemeses of TV’s favorite Time Lord, Dr. Who.
Cardiff also has become a significant center for Welsh tourism. In 2006 alone, the city welcome nearly 12 million visitors.
Significant development has come to Cardiff over the past decade, such as a new waterfront area that’s home to the the Millennium Center arts complex and a new government hall for the Welsh Assembly. International sporting venues also are adding to the city’s appeal to visits with the construction of the SWALEC Stadium for playing cricket and the Millennium Stadium for games of rugby union and football. These improvements and Cardiff’s role as host of several major international sport events earned the city the designation of the European City Of Sport in 2009.
The city also has gained an international reputation as a sporting venue. The construction of the SWALEC Stadium for playing cricket matches and the Millennium Stadium for games of rugby union and football., along with hosting several major sporting events, won Cardiff the title of European City Of Sport in 2009.
Speaking of “Dr. Who, ” the revived version of the series, along with its more adult spin-off “Torchwood, ” is now produced in Cardiff, which has become the center of Welsh media. The city houses studios for BBC Wales, S4C and ITV Wales, making Cardiff the largest film, TV and multimedia hub outside of London.
Cardiff also has become immortalized in an unlikely manner, as the home of a fictional “time rift” that energizes two enormously popular science fiction series: the revival of the long-running, long-revered “Dr. Who, ” and its more adult-themed spin-off “Torchwood.” The time rift supposedly runs under the newly developed waterfront, which gives the shows’ production company plenty of reasons to film around Millennium Center and Cardiff Bay. Besides science fiction, Cardiff also has welcomed productions for popular UK television shows “Gavin and Stacey, ” “Merlin” “The Worst Witch, ” and “Tracy Beaker” among others.
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