T. James Jones

Who is T. James Jones?

T. James Jones is a Welsh poet and dramatist, and is Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales. He is also known by the bardic name Jim Parc Nest.

Brought up in Newcastle Emlyn, Jones is the brother of two other Welsh-language writers, John Gwilym Jones and Aled Gwyn. He attended Aberystwyth University and Presbyterian College in Carmarthen.

Jones was a Congregational minister in Mynydd Bach, Swansea and Priordy, Carmarthen prior to working as a lecturer in Welsh and Drama at Trinity College, Carmarthen before joining BBC Wales as script editor on the Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm. In 2009 he was nominated to succeed Dic Jones as Archdruid. Like all Archdruids, he is a former winner of a major prize at the Eisteddfod, having won the crown on two occasions and the chair once.

In June 2011, Jones claimed that "Britishness" threatened Welsh identity, and suggested that Welsh medal-winners at the London 2012 Olympics should be accompanied by the raising of the Welsh flag and the Welsh national anthem, rather than the British flag and anthem. Jones, likewise, suggested that similar "nations" should be protected, including Cornwall, Brittany, and the Basque Country. Welsh Conservative MP David Davies said he was "talking rubbish" as most Welsh people, he claimed, were proud to be both British and Welsh.