Catherine Zeta Jones was born on the 25th September 1969 in Swansea and grew up in the Gower village of Mumbles. Named after both her grandmothers (Catherine Fair on her mother's side and Zeta Jones on her father's), Catherine was struck in childhood by a virus that hindered her breathing. The resulting operation, carried out at Swansea's Morriston Hospital, to ease her respiration left her with a tracheotomy scar. Overcoming the illness, she joined the local church's childrens' amateur dramatics group and later joined after-school dance classes. Her professional acting debut was at the age of 10 when she took the role of 'Tullah' in the Swansea Grand Theatre production of Bugsy Malone. At the age of 14, she auditioned and won a part in the chorus of a Mickey Dolenz (The Monkees) play that required local talent in each city the play visited. So impressed were the producers of this show with Catherine that they also gave her a part in London's 'The Pyjama Game'.
Cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical '42nd Street', she was awarded the principal role when the original star was on holiday and the first understudy became sick; the producers saw Catherine shine in the part.
In the late 1990's, Catherine gained a major role in the British TV show 'The Darling Buds of May'. Overnight, Catherine became a national sex symbol. It was during this period when Catherine, chased by Press photographers for one more photograph, crashed her car into a lampost. Fed up with the intrusive practices of the British Press and wanting to concentrate on a future career in the movies, Catherine decided to re-locate to the U.S.
Several small film roles followed, including 'Christopher Columbus: The Discovery' (1992) and 'The Phantom' (1996). However, Catherine's big movie break came when Steven Spielberg, impressed by her acting and screen presence in the 1996 mini-series 'Titanic', cast her in 'The Mark of Zorro'. An instant hit, Catherine was hurriedly signed up to big budget movie after big budget movie, including 'Entrapment' and 'The Haunting' (both 1999) and 'Traffic' (2000).
In August 1998, Catherine met her future husband, actor Michael Douglas, at the Deauville Film Festival in France. By the following March, the couple were dating and were engaged on New Year's Eve 1999. Their son, Dylan Michael (named after Swansea's infamous poet Dylan Thomas) was born in August 2000 and Michael and Catherine were married in November 2000. One of Swansea's other celebrities, Bonnie Tyler sang at their Hollywood reception.
Catherine's middle name, Zeta, has been the cause of much debate in the worldwide press. Named after her grandmother, the name has its family roots in their 19th century connection with the local shipping of copper ore during the Industrial Revolution. Operated by Henry Bath, these sailing vessels shipped ore from Chile to the smelting works of the Lower Swansea Valley. Henry Bath's shipping fleet were named after the letters of the Greek alphabet and Catherine's grandmother's grandfather worked on the 'Zeta'. Built in Glasgow in 1865 by Alexander Stephen, the 'Zeta' famous for being the first ship to be fitted with an auxiliary steam engine in Swansea Port. The vessel was later renamed 'Urmeneta of Valparaiso' when she was sold from Bath's fleet in 1872.
Catherine Zeta Jones
Bracelet Bay
Bracelet Bay is a popular, if rather rocky cove, along which a large fossilised coral reef may be discovered. There is a fine, if limited, stretch of sand here at low tide on which to bathe or build castles and also some fine rock pools which contain a wide variety of seashore life, including sea anemone and hermit crabs.
Swim here with caution however, for the tides off Mumbles Head are treacherous as its naval history testifies. The first Mumbles lifeboat disaster occurred here in 1883, resulting in the loss of four lives and numerous ships have floundered off its rocky coastline.
Bracelet Bay offers great views towards Mumbles Lighthouse, whose operation is now the responsibility of Trinity House. A stone lighthouse has stood on the outer islet at Mumbles Head since 1794. Originally a twin platform construction with a coal fired beacon on each, it was designed to alert passing ships of the dangerous Mixon Sands and Cherry Stone Rock - two massive undersea sand banks that have caused the destruction of countless ships and taken the lives of hundreds of seamen over the centuries. In 1799, the twin coal-fired beacons were replaced by a single oil lantern and in 1905, this was made to flash at regular and precise intervals. With the retirement of the last lighthouse keeper in 1934, a modern automatic light was added to the structure of the original lighthouse. The collection of buildings that surround the lighthouse were a coastal defence fort, built in 1861.
The bay is easily reached by road and car parking facilities are ample, stretching completely around the natural curve of the limestone beach. Such is the view from this car park that it is not unusual to find drivers parked here even on the most inclement of days, sipping from the Thermos flasks as they watch the sea, surf and sand. There is also a restaurant and bar situated here, a nightclub and, during the summer months, numerous vans selling ice-creams and take-away fast foods.
At low tide there is an interesting cave to explore to the east of the beach, but please be wary of the tide!
Mumbles Beach
The most prominent feature of Mumbles Beach are the twin tidal islets which gave Mumbles its title (its name derives from “Marmelles” – meaning “Breasts” – which the islets are said to resemble. On the inner of these, several defensive installations and army buildings from WW2 can still be seen. The outer islet supports Mumbles Lighthouse. The original lighthouse, built in 1793, was coal-fired and the the old tram track and wooden winch that carried coal up to the original twin fires can still easily be identified along the beach. Of further historical note, this area was used for experiments in over water telegraphy by J. D. Llewelyn and Sir Charles Wedstone – that even predated those by Marconi. During WW1, the beach was used for trench practise and a and in WW2, the beach was protected against possible enemy invasion by machine gun turrets.
Mumbles Pier
