Gwynfor Evans, 1912-2005 GWYNFOR Evans' shock 1966 by-election victory in Carmarthen was Plaid Cymru's first real political breakthrough. It was a victory that changed the face of Welsh and British politics and turned Plaid Cymru into a credible political force. The lifelong pacifist and teetotaller, who has died at the age of 92 after a long illness, made headlines in 1980 by threatening to starve himself to death to secure Welsh language television. Then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher created S4C two years later. Former Plaid president and ex-Caernarfon MP Dafydd Wigley, who sat in the Commons with Mr Evans from 1974, said: "Everyone recognised that if he said that he was prepared to lay down his own life in a non-violent manner in protest he was entirely serious about it. "So serious that the Iron Lady's government of Mrs Thatcher, not renowned for its U-turns, realised this was something they dare not take on." Born in Barry, near Cardiff, in 1912, Mr Evans spent most of his life in Llangadog, Carmarthenshire. He was educated at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and then St John's College, Oxford, where he set up a branch of Plaid Cymru. He later qualified as a solicitor. He became President of Plaid Cymru in 1945 and held the position for 36 years. As leader of Plaid, he campaigned for a Welsh parliament and unsuccessfully tried to block the flooding of the Tryweryn valley, in North Wales, to provide water for the city of Liverpool. He lost his Commons seat in 1970 but held it again between 1974 and 1979, joining a new generation of Plaid MPs, Dafydd Wigley and Dafydd Elis Thomas, who he inspired to enter politics. Lord Elis-Thomas, who shared a flat with him, said: "He emphasised the political road that this was not just a national movement or protest movement but also about electoral politics, not just about protesting at the Prince of Wales but getting out and winning elections." Plaid present president Dafydd Iwan said: "During the lean years in the 1950s and '60s, Gwynfor Evans single-handedly guided Plaid Cymru and it is true to say that without Gwynfor Evans at the helm Plaid Cymru may not have survived to see electoral success in later years." Historian Lord KO Morgan described his by-election victory in 1966 as the moment "Plaid Cymru became credible, an appealing alternative to an apparently ageing, timorous, and entrenched Labour Party, which showed all the symptoms of too long a monopoly of power." Fittingly, the final county to declare their results and give the "Yes" camp victory - was Carmarthenshire. Dafydd Wigley said yesterday: "It was his personality that kept the national movement together for half a century and transformed Plaid Cymru from being a small group of people to a major force in Welsh politics." He leaves a wife, Rhiannon, seven children and a number of grandchildren. Evans with his Worldwide Welsh award which he received at the 2000 National Eisteddfod for services to his country | 
