Cyril William Holmes Havard

Cyril William Holmes Havard blamed his first name on the bishop who christened him in 1925. “William” or “Bill” was always his usual name, but his insightful parents realised that the initials WC could cause problems at school. Both his parents were special in their own ways. His mother, Aimee, was English and came from an entrepreneurial family of tin platers in Llanelli. As a very young woman she was one of the first ever female drivers for the Ministry of Munitions in the first world war. In her later years, she had a speedboat and took to flying lessons in her 70s. His father was born to Welsh farming stock in Brecon and was actually the second William Thomas Havard, as his older brother had died in childhood, like other siblings. He went into the church and served in France during the first world war as a chaplain, something he never talked about. He did, however, earn a …