15 Facts About Cynog Dafis

Cynog Dafis served as the Member of the Welsh Assembly for Mid and West Wales from 1999 to 2003.

Cynog Dafis Glyndwr Davies was born in Treboeth, Swansea, on 1 April 1938.

Cynog Dafis's father was George Davies, a Presbyterian reverend, preacher and minister.

Cynog Dafis completed his secondary education in 1956, leaving grammar school with three A-levels in English, Welsh and history.

Cynog Dafis taught Welsh and English at Pontardawe College of Further Education from 1960 to 1962, and taught English at Newcastle Emlyn Secondary Modern School from 1962 to 1980, Aberaeron Comprehensive School from 1980 to 1984 and Dyffryn Teifi Comprehensive School from 1984 to 1991.

Cynog Dafis left the party in 1964 but rejoined in 1979.

Cynog Dafis first contested Ceredigion and Pembroke North in 1983 and finished in fourth place, a result repeated in 1987.

Cynog Dafis's victory in 1992 was a notable one as he more than doubled his vote.

Cynog Dafis was a Member of Parliament for Ceredigion from 1992 until 2000, having been supported by a coalition of local Plaid Cymru and Green Party activists, the latter of which had worked with him on a number of environmental initiatives.

Between 1992 and 1997 Cynog Dafis sat in Parliament as an official Plaid Cymru and Green Party MP, having been elected on a joint ticket.

Cynog Dafis agrees with the Greens' official recognition of Caroline Lucas as the first Green MP, as he was "a kind of hybrid, so I don't really count".

Cynog Dafis felt the needs of the language were ignored during the first year of the Assembly, and that in order to ensure a dynamic growth of the Welsh language a properly resourced strategy was needed.

Cynog Dafis pointed towards efforts in areas such as Catalonia and the Basque country as successful examples to emulate.

In 2002, Cynog Dafis announced he would step down from the Assembly at the 2003 elections, despite party leader Ieuan Wyn Jones having asked him not to do so.

Cynog Dafis was made an Honorary Fellow of Aberystwyth University on 15 July 2010.