David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr) David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr) David Richards (22 January 1751 – 12 May 1827), better-known by his bardic name Dafydd Ionawr, was a Welsh-language poet, born at Glanyrafon near Bryn-crug in the parish of Tywyn in Merionethshire (now Gwynedd), north-west Wales. He took an interest in poetry as a result of his acquaintance with Evan Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir), who was curate of St Cadfan's Church, Tywyn, and was later sent to a school at Ystradmeurig to obtain a better education than was available locally. After a period as a junior schoolmaster in Wrexham, he spent one term at Jesus College,
History of the Welsh language and the establishment of Welsh television and radio found a mass audience which was encouraged in the retention of its Welsh. Perhaps most important of all, at the end of the 20th century it became compulsory for all schoolchildren to learn Welsh up to age 16, and this both reinforced the language in Welsh-speaking areas and reintroduced at least an elementary knowledge of it in areas which had become more or less wholly Anglophone. The decline in the percentage of people in Wales who can speak Welsh has now been halted, and there are even signs of a modest recovery.