Dafydd Elis-Thomas

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Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas, AM (born 18 October 1946) is a Welsh politician. He is a member of the House of Lords and a former leader of Plaid Cymru.

He was born in the Priory Hospital in Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire; and brought up in the Llandysul area of Ceredigion, and, later, in Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley.

Having served as Member of Parliament for the Meirionnydd Westmister constituency between 1974 and 1983, initially as the "Baby of the House", and the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy Westminster constituency since 1983, he was made a life peer in 1992, and changed his surname from Thomas to Elis-Thomas by deed poll, enabling him to take the title Baron Elis-Thomas, of Nant Conwy in the County of Gwynedd (see [1]).

As of 2005, Elis-Thomas is also a member and the Presiding Officer (i.e. speaker and signer of legislation) of the National Assembly for Wales, where he represents the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy Assembly constituency. He has held the position of presiding officer since the assembly's inception in 1998.

He was the chair of the Welsh Language Board between 1994 and 1999, and is a former member of the Welsh Arts Council and the British Film Institute where he was Chair of Screen between 1992 and 1999. He was also a director and vice-chair of Cynefin Environmental Ltd. between 1992 and 1999. A former university lecturer, he has also been the president of the University of Wales, Bangor since 2000, as well as currently being a member of the governing body of the Church in Wales.

In 1970 he married Elen M. Williams and had three sons. The marriage was later dissolved, and from the mid-1980s until 1992 his partner was Marjorie Thompson, the chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In 1993 he married Mair Parry Jones, who is head of the translation department at the National Assembly. He currently lives in Llandaf in Cardiff (when working at the National Assembly) and Betws-y-Coed (in his constituency).

[edit] External links

• National Assembly for Wales: the Presiding Officer

Political offices
Preceded by Dafydd Wigley	President of Plaid Cymru 1984–1991	Succeeded by Dafydd Wigley
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Bernadette Devlin	Baby of the House 1974	Succeeded by Hélène Hayman
Preceded by William Edwards	Member of Parliament for Meirionnydd 1974 – 1983	Succeeded by (constituency renamed)
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy 1983 – 1992	Succeeded by Elfyn Llwyd
National Assembly for Wales
Preceded by (new post)	Assembly Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy 1999 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by (new post)	Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales 1999 – present	Incumbent