My father, John Rhys, who has died aged 95, made a quiet but significant contribution to bilingualism in Wales through his work as a senior civil servant in the Welsh Office.
In that post he was secretary to the government-commissioned Bowen committee of inquiry, which in 1972 recommended that road signs in Wales should be in Welsh as well as English – advice that the government accepted. Intricately involved in drafting the committee’s final report with its chair, the former MP Roderic Bowen, he then became secretary of the Welsh Language Council, helping to draft three of its reports on how bilinguality could be expanded. Many of the council’s recommendations, including the introduction of millions of pounds of public support for the Welsh language, were implemented.
