Editing Saunders Lewis (section)

==''{{lang|cy|Tynged yr Iaith}}'' and the 1961 census==
In 1962 Lewis gave a radio speech entitled ''{{lang|cy|[[Tynged yr iaith]]}}'' ("The Fate of the Language") in which he predicted the [[language death|complete extinction]] of the Welsh language by 2000 unless immediate action was taken.<ref name="Marcus Tanner 2004 Page 212">Marcus Tanner (2004), ''The Last of the Celts'', Yale University Press. Page 212.</ref>

Lewis's radio speech was in response to the 1961 census, which showed a decrease in the percentage of Welsh speakers from 36% in 1931 to 26%, of the population of about 2.5 million.<ref name=autogenerated4>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1961.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609020947/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1961.shtml|title=BBCWales History extracted 12-03-07|archive-date=9 June 2008}}</ref> In the census the counties of Merionethshire (Meirionnydd), Anglesey (Ynys Môn), Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin), and Caernarfonshire averaged a 75% proportion of Welsh speakers, with the most significant decreases in the counties of [[Glamorgan]], [[Flint, Flintshire|Flint]], and [[Pembrokeshire|Pembroke]].<ref name=autogenerated4 /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1931.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609020655/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1931.shtml|title=BBCWales History extracted 12-03-07|archive-date=9 June 2008}}</ref>

Assuming, "a gloomy sepulchral tone", Lewis argued that the Welsh language was, "driven into a corner, ready to be thrown, like a worthless rag, on the dung heap." The responsibility for this lay, according to Lewis, less in the hands of the [[British civil service]] [[bureaucracy]] than with the timidity and indifference of the Welsh-speaking people themselves. As he had fully intended it to do, Lewis' lecture immediately touched a raw nerve.<ref name="Marcus Tanner 2004 Page 212"/>

While Lewis' had wished to shame Plaid Cymru into more direct action promoting a Welsh [[language revival]], his speech instead led to the formation of ''[[Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg]]'' (''Welsh Language Society'') later that year at a Plaid Cymru summer school held in [[Pontardawe]] in [[Glamorgan]].<ref>{{harvp|Morgan|2002}}</ref> The foundation of ''{{lang|cy|Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg}}'' allowed Plaid Cymru to focus on electoral politics, while the Cymdeithas launched a campaign of [[civil disobedience]] aimed at the State's policy of coercive [[Anglicisation]].<ref>Marcus Tanner (2004), ''The Last of the Celts'', Yale University Press. Pages 212-213.</ref>

According to Marcus Tanner, "For the first time, the British government was forced to recognise the existence of a substantial non-Anglophone culture, and to rethink attitudes that had been set in stone since [[Henry VIII]]'s so-called [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542|Acts of Union]]. The new, more conciliatory attitude began under [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]], but continued under the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]]."<ref name="Marcus Tanner 2004 Page 213">Marcus Tanner (2004), ''The Last of the Celts'', Yale University Press. Page 213.</ref>

Responding to escalating demands for [[devolution in the United Kingdom]], in 1964 the [[Labour government, 1964–1970|Labour Government]] established the [[Welsh Office]] ({{langx|cy|Swyddfa Gymreig}}) and the post of [[Secretary of State for Wales]]. The Welsh Language Bill of 1967 granted Welsh equal status to English in the legal system. Further legislation belatedly granted century-old demands for [[Welsh-medium education]].<ref name="Marcus Tanner 2004 Page 213"/>