Steve Andrews (aka "The Bard of Ely"), was born in Canton, Cardiff in 1953 and lived in

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

for 25 years, a suburb on the outskirts of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. He is a singer-songwriter, writer and Journalist with a strong interest in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

. Andrews is known for having a brightly coloured beard and being a Welsh icon.cardiff wall of fame featuring the bard of ely
– video showing "the bard of Ely" in the center of Cardiff on a Billboard

Writing career

He was dubbed "The Bard of Ely" by

Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or indivi ...

Cymru when he had a regular column in the publication. Andrews is the author of "Herbs of the Northern Shaman" published by O-Books and Hummadruz and a Life of High Strangeness. He has written articles and features for many publications including

Tenerife News The ''Tenerife News'' is a bi-weekly English language newspaper in the Canary Islands that is published by Seven Island Media Group S.L. Printed in tabloid format, the paper focuses on local news in Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ...

newspaper,
Big Issue, Kindred Spirit, Eye on Life magazine, Prediction, Permaculture, Feed Your Brain, Living Tenerife and the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners magazines. He has a

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

BA (Honours) degree in Journalism, Film and Broadcast.

Television and radio

Andrews was a co-presenter for two series of "In Full View" on the

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, as well as the BBC's second non-analogue-terres ...

Digital channel and has also been featured on HTV's "Weird Wales" and appeared as a musician on

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

' "The Slate", and a guest on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's "Roll over Beethoven". Also his song "Rubber Ducky" was used in the drama Y Tŷ ("The House") on

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

. Andrews was a guest on many of Steve Johnson's radio shows in Wales.Steve Johnson's radio shows on various stations including:

Capital South Wales Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport and the surrounding areas from studios in Cardiff Bay. History The station ...

, Valleys Radio,

106.3 Bridge FM Bridge FM is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Bridgend County Borough and the surrounding areas. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 106.3 FM from studios at the St Hilary transmitter in the Val ...

Radio Cardiff Radio Cardiff (98.7 FM) is a community radio station serving Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It broadcasts on a terrestrial frequency of 98.7 FM, via DAB in Cardiff and streams online via their website and TuneIn. The station was formerly ca ...

and

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales br ...

Music

Andrews has released a number of albums since 1989 on various indie record labels, including a collaboration with Ian Kaye and Philip Moxham (from "

Young Marble Giants Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was ...

") called "Taffia EP" and has had tracks released on a number of compilations. Discography: Tracks contained in compilations:

Featured in

* the book "The World's Most Mysterious People" by Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe * the book "The Last of the Hippies" and other titles by C.J. Stone * as Peter's guide to the west of Cardiff in the book "Real Cardiff" by

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...

* quoted at length in the book "Leonard Cohen: a remarkable life" by Anthony Reynolds

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Steve Welsh writers 1950 births Living people Welsh male singers Writers from Cardiff Journalists from Cardiff