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(Morgan) Goronwy Rees (1909-1979) was born at Aberystwyth on 29 November 1909, the youngest child of the Rev. R. J. Rees (1868-1963), the minister of the famous Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist chapel in the town. In 1923 the family moved to Roath in Cardiff and Goronwy Rees was educated at Cardiff High School for Boys (1923-1928) and New College, Oxford, where he graduated with first class honours in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He was elected to a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, later undertook research at Berlin, and was a leader writer on the staff of the Manchester Guardian from 1932 until 1935. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Goronwy Rees mobilized as a gunner in the 90th field regiment. He saw active service in the war years with some distinction and held a variety of occupations thereafter. In 1951 he was appointed bursar of Old Souls College, Oxford, and from 1953 until 1956 he was the Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Now Rees's relationship with Guy Burgess, whom he had first befriended in 1934, returned to haunt him, especially in 1956 when the Principal published in The People newspaper a series of quite sensational articles about Burgess's activities and his lifestyle. Such was the local outcry at Aberystwyth that Rees himself felt that he had little alternative but to resign the position of Aberystwyth Principal the following year. Subsequently, facing financial difficulties, Rees developed a successful new career as a writer and journalist. His output included two fascinating and highly readable volumes of autobiography A Bundle of Sensations (1960) and A Chapter of Accidents (1972). He also appeared on the BBC television series The Brains Trust. Following the death of his wife in 1976, Goronwy Rees died at London on 12 December 1979. The precise truth about his associations with espionage and security during the years of the Cold War will always elude historians and writers.

Ronald Mathias Lockley was a conservationist and island dweller who was born in Whitchurch, Cardiff, on 8 November 1903. In 1926 he moved with his wife Doris to Skokholm Island and established the UK’s first bird observatory in 1933. He was the founder of the West Wales Field Society. Ronald Lockley wrote over fifty books and his most famous book was The Private Life Of A Rabbit, which was published in 1964. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1970 and was awarded a Medal of the British Ornithologists Union on his ninetieth birthday. He died on 12 April, 2000, in Auckland, and his ashes were scattered on Skokholm.

Mary Williams (1883-1977), from Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, was a Professor of French at the University of Durham, having previously taught at University College Swansea, University of Durham, and King's College, London. She studied German and French at University of Wales Aberystwyth, and wrote her thesis on the French sources for Wolfram von Eschenbach's poem Parzival; she had a working knowledge on many languages, including Provençal, Italian, Latin and Welsh. From 1961 until 1963, she was the President of the Folklore Society. In 1922, she married Dr George Arbour Stephens. She researched Arthurian topics, corresponding with Jessie Laidlay Weston. She acquired some papers relating to her father, the Rev. John Williams, her mother, Mrs Jane Williams, and her sister, Jennie Williams, later Mrs R. Ruggles-Gates, and Professor Victor Julian Taylor Spiers (d. 1937), King's College, London. She was a keen supporter and benefactor of the National Library of Wales and took part in meetings of the Celtic Congress.

Ganwyd Thomas Gwynn Jones (1871-1949), bardd, newyddiadurwr, cyfieithydd, nofelydd, dramodydd, beirniad ac ysgolhaig, yn y Gwyndy Uchaf, Betws yn Rhos, sir Ddinbych. Yn 1899 priododd Margaret Davies, a chawsant ferch a dau fab. Heblaw am addysg elfennol, yr oedd Jones yn hynanddysgedig, er iddo dderbyn gwersi mewn mathemateg, Lladin a Groeg gan gymydog. Rhwystrwyd ei uchelgais o astudio yn Rhydychen gan afiechyd, a gweithiodd fel newyddiadurwr gyda Baner ac Amserau Cymru, Y Cymro (y daeth yn olygydd arno faes o law), Yr Herald Gymraeg a phapurau newydd eraill rhwng 1891 a 1909, pan gymerodd swydd yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru yn Aberystwyth. Fe'i penodwyd yn ddarlithydd yn Adran y Gymraeg yng Ngholeg Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth, yn 1913, a'i ddyrchafu i Gadair Gregynog mewn Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg yn 1919; ymddeolodd yn 1937. Derbyniodd y CBE yr un flwyddyn. Dylanwadwyd Jones yn gryf gan y llenor Robert Ambrose Jones (Emrys ap Iwan,1851-1906) ac yn arbennig gan y newyddiadurwr a'r cyfieithydd Daniel Rees (1855-1931), gyda'r hwn y magodd berthynas glos. Yn ogystal ag ymhyfrydu mewn llenyddiaeth Gymraeg a Saesneg cyfoes ac o'r bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, datblygodd ddiddordeb mewn llenyddiaeth Gymraeg yr oesoedd canol a'r cyfnod modern cynnar, a hefyd llên gwerin ac ieithoedd tramor, yn enwedig Gwyddeleg ac ieithoedd Celtaidd eraill; bu ar ymweliad ag Iwerddon deirgwaith rhwng 1892 a 1913, daeth i gysylltiad ag ysgolheigion Gwyddelig, a defnyddiodd lysenwau fel Fionn mhac Eóghain yn ei ohebiaeth atynt. Ei brif lwyddiant oedd fel bardd pwysicaf ei genhedlaeth, yn cyfansoddi'n bennaf yn y mesurau caeth. Cyfansoddodd a chyhoeddodd farddoniaeth yn y 1880au, ac enillodd y Gadair yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yn 1902 a 1909 (am 'Ymadawiad Arthur a 'Gwlad y bryniau'); ymhlith gweithiau eraill o'i eiddo mae 'Tir na nOg', 'Madog' ac 'Y Dwymyn'. Cyfieithodd Jones waith Goethe, Ibsen, Shakespeare ac eraill i'r Gymraeg, a chyhoeddodd gyfieithiad Saesneg o Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsc Ellis Wynne (1670/1-1734). Mae ei brif gyhoeddiadau academaidd yn cynnwys astudiaeth ar waith y bardd Tudur Aled (bl. 1480-1526), ac roedd yn awdur nofelau, dramâu, cofiannau a llyfr taith hefyd. Yn ogystal, yr oedd yn beirniadu a darlithio mewn eisteddfodau yn rheolaidd, ac yn athro dylanwadol.