Ifor or IFOR may refer to:

People[link]

• Ifor Bach
• Ifor Davies
• Ifor Leslie Evans
• Ifor James
• Ifor Owen
• Ifor Pritchard
• Ifor Williams

IFOR[link]

• Implementation Force
• International Fellowship of Reconciliation

Sir Ifor Williams (16 April 1881 - 4 November 1965) was a Welsh scholar who laid the foundations for the academic study of Old Welsh, particularly early Welsh poetry.

Ifor Williams was born at Pendinas, Tregarth near Bangor, Wales the son of John Williams, a quarryman, and his wife Jane. His maternal grandfather, Hugh Derfel Hughes, was a noted local historian who wrote a well-regarded book on the history of the area. He went to Friars School, Bangor, in 1894 but had only been there for just over a year when he suffered a serious accident. This left him with back injuries that made him bedridden for several years.

Having recovered, he attended Clynnog School in 1901 and in 1902 won a scholarship to the Bangor University. In 1905 he graduated with honours in Greek, then in 1906 in Welsh. He spent the 1906-07 academic year at the Department of Welsh working for his M.A. degree and assisting Sir John Morris-Jones, the Professor of Welsh, before being appointed an assistant lecturer. In 1920 a Chair of Welsh Literature was specially created for him, which he held until Sir John Morris-Jones died in 1929, when he became Professor of Welsh Language and Literature.

Ifor Williams had a life-long interest in Welsh place-names, and was probably the first to apply rigorous academic methods to this field. He published Enwau Lleoedd ("Place Names") in 1945 which is still of great value today. Many of his early publications were written in order to provide teaching material and included versions with detailed notes of a number of old Welsh tales, notably the Mabinogi in 1930. He also produced books giving the text with notes of the works of a number of mediaeval poets such as Dafydd ap Gwilym and others in 1914 and Iolo Goch in 1925 with colleagues.

His main field of study however was Old Welsh and the earliest Welsh Poetry. He produced Canu Llywarch Hen in 1935 covering the poetry associated with Llywarch Hen, then in 1938 possibly his most important work, Canu Aneirin, the text with notes of the Gododdin attributed to the 6th century poet Aneirin. For the first time the original text was distinguished from later additions and made comprehensible with notes, and this work has provided the foundation for all subsequent work on this poetry. Canu Taliesin in 1960 covered the work of the other 6th century poet Taliesin. He also published works on later Welsh poetry such as the 10th century Armes Prydain.

Williams edited the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies from 1937 to 1948. He was also an excellent speaker on the radio, and selections of his radio lectures were published in three books. He retired in 1947 and was knighted the same year. In 1949 the University of Wales awarded him the honorary degree of Ll.D.. He lived between 1913-1947 in Menai Bridge and retired to Pontllyfni where he died in 1965. He is buried in the burial ground attached to Capel Brynaerau, Pontllyfni.

References[link]

• Meic Stephens A companion to the literature of Wales (University of Wales Press)

External links[link]

• photograph

Professor Ifor James (August 30, 1931 – December 23, 2004) was a horn player and teacher, numbering among his pupils many future Principal Horns and horn professors at British music schools.

James was born in Carlisle, England; his father was a noted cornet player and his mother a famous soprano. He began playing cornet in a brass band at age four and by seven he was playing paying gigs as a trumpeter. He also played the organ and was assistant organist in Carlisle Cathedral. Taking up the horn in 1951, he studied first privately and then under Aubrey Brain at the Royal Academy of Music. His professional horn playing career began with the Halle Orchestra then the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and was much in demand for chamber recitals and solo work.

Moving to London, he played as principal horn with many orchestras and chamber groups. He was appointed professor of horn at the Royal Academy of Music, principal horn of the English Chamber Orchestra, and horn player in the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, with whom he toured the world and made over 30 recordings. He was also appointed professor for horn at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester). His final teaching appointment was as professor for horn at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, Germany.

His musical taste was eclectic and he was for some time the principal conductor of the famous Besses o’th Barn Brass Band, winning the 1978 BBC Brass Band of the Year Competition with them.

He was known among his students for sending them on curious errands such as paying hotel bills. He also had a puckish sense of humour. One former student recalls an incident where the two of them were at traffic lights in James' open-topped Morris Minor when a pretty girl walked alongside. James encouraged the younger man to "pinch her bottom as the lights go green, and I'll drive off". Needless to say when the young man did as bidden, James stayed put and turned to grin at the girl.

Welsh to the core, he famously averred that he only played the horn because he could not sing.

His former students include over 100 professional musicians, over 30 of them currently principal horn players with orchestras in numerous countries. Nine are professors at music colleges, two are the principals of German music colleges and a further six are noted soloists.

At the 2005 British Horn Festival tributes to James were read out by Barry Tuckwell, Michael Thompson and others, and a commissioned Portrait by former student Tony Randall was premiered by an octet of former students including Simon de Souza (professor of horn at Birmingham Conservatoire), Jeffrey Bryant (professor of horn at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Michael Thompson (Aubrey Brain Professor of Horn, Royal Academy of Music) and Frank Lloyd (professor of horn at the Folkwang Hochschule and president of the International Horn Society).

Ifor James' legacy to British horn playing is incalculable.

References[link]

• Profile of Ifor James in The Horn Player, journal of the British Horn Society, 2005.
• http://www.ifor-james.de/
• Profile from the International Horn Society
• obituary from the Daily Telegraph