One hundred years ago, in July 1920, King George V and his wife Queen Mary travelled to Swansea. As part of their tour, in a grand ceremony, the king laid the foundation stone for the University College of Swansea. 

In this first episode I talk about those early foundation years and how the University developed in the first few decades of its life, looking particularly at some of the most famous names who shaped the University and helped cement its reputation.

My name is Sam Blaxland and I have just written a book about Swansea University to mark its 2020 centenary, called Swansea University: Campus and Community in a Post-War World, 1945-2020. In this four-part series I am going to explore some of the more unusual and interesting things I uncovered during this research.