LEGENDARY entertainer Max Boyce will be reflecting on a career stretching back over half-a-century in a special appearance at Rhosygilwen on Friday, November 26.

The Glynneath-born star features in Max Boyce: In Conversation (7.30pm) when he will talk about his work and life and publication of his selected work.

And also how he wrote the poem ‘When Just the Tide Went Out’ over lockdown which became an internet sensation with over five million people viewing it online.

His new book ‘Max: Hymns and Arias’, compiles – in some instances for the first time in print – the very best songs, poems and stories from across his celebrated career.

It has been described as the definitive selected work of a major cultural figure who, through his inimitable humour, uniquely Welsh pathos and masterful wordcraft, has defined a nation and its people for over fifty years.

When ‘Hymns and Arias’ first rang out at Cardiff Arms Park in 1971, those great Welsh anthems ‘Calon Lân’ and ‘Cwm Rhondda’ had found a companion and the valleys of south Wales had produced a new folk hero.

Max’s work captures the spirit and the story of the people of Wales.

It also has a warmth and charm that has made his words and music resonate with a worldwide audience.

From his early days touring the folk clubs and small concert halls of his native south Wales to sell-out shows at some of the world’s most iconic venues, including the Albert Hall, the London Palladium and the opera houses of Sydney and Durban, Max has become an original and treasured performer whose songs and stories have become part of folk culture.

His albums, including the No. 1 album ‘We All Had Doctors’ Papers’ and the iconic Live at Treorchy, have sold in their millions and earned him several gold discs.

His greatest influence has always been the valleys of Wales, with their inherent warmth and humour, their sadness and passion, and he has the remarkable ability to heighten, to an art form, the ‘hwyl’ that attends his nation’s national game: rugby union.