Twm Siôn Cati

 

I was shooting the breeze with Kim & Dylan , when we had a vague memory of a 70's TV Show based on Twm Siôn Cati who was the Welsh Robin Hood. Allegedly. A quick search revealed that it was called Hawkmoor, goodness knows why.

I thought it was the dude from Blake's 7, but I was mistaken. 

The real story makes a bit of a read. From Wiki:-

While his mother was Cati Jones of Tregaron, his father is sometimes stated to be Siôn ap Dafydd ap Madog ap Hywel Moetheu of Porth-y-ffin, Tregaron. As an illegitimate son, he unofficially took both his father and mother's names, becoming known as Thomas Jones in English, but as Twm Siôn Cati in common Welsh convention.

I never knew thats how Welsh bastards were named. Seems quite nice.

Amongst his tales of derring do are these. You can decide if they are exaggeration, wishful thinking, cover ups for an 'out-and-outer', or just ripping yarns:-

In one story:- 

a farmer is hunting Twm over the theft of a bullock. The farmer reaches Twm's mother's house and asks whether Twm lives there. A beggar answers that he does, and agrees to hold the farmer's horse and whip for him. As the farmer goes into the house, the beggar jumps onto the horse: it is Twm. He gallops to the house of the farmer and tells the farmer's wife that the farmer is in trouble, needs money urgently, and has sent Twm to fetch it, with the horse and whip to prove that the message really came from the farmer. The farmer's wife pays up. Twm, now in possession of the farmer's money and horse, hastily departs for London, later selling the horse.

Another tale recounts how Twm waylaid a rich squire, who was accompanied by his daughter, Twm was so smitten with her that he returned her jewellery to her and attempted to woo her, against her father's opposition and, initially, her own. One full moon shortly after the robbery, he crept to her window, roused her from sleep, caught her hand at the window and kissed it, refusing to let her go until she promised to marry him. She wouldn't promise so Twm drew his dagger, drew blood on her wrist and threatened to sever her hand unless she assented to marriage forthwith. She agreed to marry him and she kept her hand. Their marriage followed soon after, despite her father's views and the directness of Twm's courtship methods. The girl was supposedly the widow of the sheriff of Carmarthen.

Interestingly, 

There are a number of similarities between the legends of Twm Siôn Cati and the lead character of Henry Fielding' 1749 novel, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. These include the circumstances of his birth, a noble father, a bucolic setting in the "far west", romantic liaisons followed by the meeting and wooing of a lady, exile from their home country, a rags-to-riches narrative structure and even the character's names.

Plagiarist! In the best Shakespearean tradition!