Photo shot: Hay-on-Wye, 29th May 1997. Place of Birth: Cardiff. Main Occupation: Priest and poet. First Language: Welsh. Other languages: Welsh. Lived in Wales: Always (Died 2001) R.S. Thomas was one of the finest poets writing in the English language until his death in 2001. Often controversial, he was well known for his fierce defence of Wales and the Welsh language as for the uncomfortably confrontational debates on the existence of God and his own position as priest which figure in his poetry. Born in Cardiff in 1913 to English-speaking parents, he learned Welsh on moving to a parish in rural Montgomeryshire.