Davies first found fame as a child actor, landing the lead in David Lean's 1948 film Oliver Twist, before briefly pursuing a career as an actor. It was later, having completed military service and while working as a comedy producer and director, that he had a hand in some of the most well-loved and iconic British sitcoms, including Only Fools And Horses, The Goodies, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Yes Minister and Mr Bean.

John Howard Davies, pictured in 1983

Davies' comedy hits are well-known, but less so was his enthusiasm for his Welsh heritage. An accomplished rifle shooter, he had represented Wales and captained the national shooting team.

Although born in London, in an interview with Aled Jones for BBC Radio Wales he expressed his deep affection for Wales: "The whole lot of my family were Welsh... we were from north Wales but I was born in Paddington, so I can hardly call myself a proper Welshman in one sense, but I feel very Welsh when I go to Wales."

He descended from a long line of showbiz stock including his father, successful screenwriter Jack Davies, and his great great grandmother who, according to Davies, was the first woman to be shot out of a cannon.

Like so many English-born Welshmen before him, Davies confessed, "as soon as I cross that bridge, I'm afraid, a [Welsh] accent appears from absolutely nowhere," though he admitted it had an unfortunate tendency to "lurch into Pakistani."

Although never a household name, John Howard Davies has been recognised as a towering figure in British sitcom history. Tomorrow night's tribute sees him hailed by writers and performers including John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis as one of the masters of television comedy.

Watch John Howard Davies: A Life In Comedy on BBC Two Wales at 7.45pm tomorrow night, Saturday 7 January. Following the tribute there's the chance to watch some examples of his work, with episodes of The Good Life, Steptoe and Son and Fawlty Towers being shown, as well as an episode of Comedy Connections, which tells the inside story of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Browse the BBC Two online schedule for details.

Terry Jones, acclaimed director, writer, documentary maker and Python, was in his hometown to reopen a small theatre, nestled just shy of the north Wales coast, following a refurbishment which has restored the venue to its former glory.

Although Jones' appearance was greeted with excitement, in truth showbusiness' most famous faces have been appearing in the small town of Colwyn Bay for over 100 years. It's all thanks to the presence of Theatr Colwyn, recently named the oldest operating cinema in the UK and the oldest operating theatre in Wales.

Now a popular and affordable community attraction, in its heyday it boasted an impressive audience, with a seating capacity estimated between 500-800 strong at the time its cinema opened in 1909. Harry Reynolds, a well known face on the West End stage, had taken over The Public Hall - as the venue had been known since the 1880s - revamping the auditorium and installing electric light. It was one of the earliest purpose-built cinemas in the country.

Newspaper advert showing Theatr Colwyn's revamped auditorium with cinema and programme information, dated 1909

The first screening was on 25 January 1909: short animated pictures including Hunting Crocodiles On The Nile and The Naughty Little Princess. The Pioneer newspaper, in its review of the cinema's opening night, praised a warm-up performance by singer Revill Hall, and Morris Davies, an "accomplished pianist [who] performed a suitable programme of music" to accompany the films.

The sheer number of screenings suggests cinema quickly proved to be a popular past time with Conway residents. "There were several showings every day of the week," says marketing officer Joann Rae, "often more if it was raining!"

However, although popular, ticket prices indicate the theatre attracted an affluent visitor, with admission ranging from one shilling to three or six pence. Colwyn Bay and its attractions were a magnet for wealthy residents and visitors, in particular, Joann Rae explains, "industrialists and mill owners from north Wales."

The early 20th century cinema-goer's experience differed to a contemporary viewer's in some respects - for example, the film's score was performed live in order to bring the silent pictures to life - though it was more familiar in others, with sweets and chocolates sold before performances and public fascination with the biggest and brightest stars of the period dictating the cinema programme.

In the 1920s, the period which saw the flourishing of Hollywood's golden age of silent cinema, audiences flocked to the Theatr Colwyn to see the movie icons of the day. Joann reveals the cinema still holds posters from that era advertising films starring Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd: "massive stars, so we know that they were popular with audiences here in the '20s."

As the century wore on, Theatr Colwyn continued to play host to popular stage and film performers. Several notable acts started their careers at the theatre, including Charles Dance and original Coronation Street cast members Jack Howarth and Betty Alberge. Pauline Jamieson was a member of the rep company during the 1930s before becoming a leading light of the West End, with Vivien Leigh serving as maid of honour at her wedding.

In 2006, Terry Jones was invited to become the theatre's patron, in large part due to his personal connections with the venue. Not only did his mother perform in amateur productions, in 1936 his grandfather William Newnes conducted an orchestra on the night the theatre reopened following repairs after a fire.

Exterior of newly refurbished Theatr Colwyn in 2011. Photographer: Paul Sampson

Now owned by Conwy County Borough Council and run as an independent cinema, Theatr Colwyn underwent a £750,000 refurbishment in 2011. It remains an active and vibrant part of the community's cultural landscape while retaining a sense of the venue's historical importance.

Phil Batty, theatre manager, explains: "We started up the cinema again in 2000, after receiving grants from our town council and county council which covered the cost of the projector and screen. Our audience likes to come and watch a film in a traditional setting and they also appreciate the fact that our tickets are so affordable."

With a century's worth of entertainment history to its name, Theatr Colwyn intends on bringing a small slice of Hollywood to the residents of Colwyn Bay for another hundred years to come.

So little is known about the life of William Shakespeare that scholarly debates continue to rage nearly 400 years after his death. Our scant biographical knowledge has been augmented by theory, supposition and guesswork, but we will probably never know more than a fragment of the truth.

Even the authorship of the 37 plays attributed to Shakespeare has been cast into doubt. This, one of the world's longest-running conspiracy theories, continues to attract new supporters, with the 2011 film Anonymous adding fuel to the fire.

Rafe Spall as William Shakespeare in the 2011 film Anonymous (image: Sony Pictures Releasing UK)

Despite being born in England to a mostly English family, Wales and the Welsh figured prominently in Shakespeare's life and works. Here are 10 things we know - or at least think we know - about Shakespeare's links with Wales.

1. Shakespeare's Welsh play.

Cymbeline, one of Shakespeare's romances, is set largely in Wales. The play's heroine, Imogen, becomes lost after attempting to flea to Milford Haven, referred to as "blessed Milford", and so spends most of the action embroiled in chaos deep in the Welsh mountains. Both John Keats and William Hazlitt listed it as one of their favourite plays by Shakespeare, though George Bernard Shaw was less enamoured, describing its last act as "tedious".

2. Shakespeare had Welsh blood.

Shakespeare's maternal grandmother, Alys Griffin, was Welsh. Some scholars in the early 20th century believed these Celtic roots and their link to an oral poetic tradition explained Shakespeare's artistic gifts. Contemporary criticism has been somewhat more sceptical.

3. Shakespeare's First Folio was dedicated to Welsh aristocracy.

The first folio was published in 1623 and was dedicated to brothers William and Philip Herbert, the Earls of Pembroke. The dedication described them as the "most noble and incomparable paire of brethren". Although this suggests Shakespeare had ties with the Welsh aristocracy, he had died seven years earlier, making it unclear if the dedication was in accordance with his wishes.

4. Shakespeare was Owain Glyndwr's PR man.

And what a fine job he did, as the enduring image of Owain Glyndwr as an exotic and magical Celtic warrior is largely thanks to Shakespeare's Henry IV.

5. There are more Welsh characters in Shakespeare's plays than from any of England's other neighbouring nations.

The playwright's best known Welsh creations are Sir Hugh Evans in Merry Wives and Captain Fluellen, the die-hard Celt in Henry V. Shakespeare gives his Welsh characters familiar verbal tics, with dialect such as "look you" peppering Fluellen's comical English-Welsh speech.

Still image from the 2011 film Anonymous (image: Sony Pictures Releasing UK)

6. Shakespeare's Welsh characters are predictably proud to be so.

An all-too familiar national trait, Shakespeare's Welsh are as keen to express their patriotism as many a modern day gentleman this side of the Severn. When Fluellen's English colleague, Pistol, insults the Welsh vegetable of choice on St David's day, he forces him to eat the national emblem as punishment: "If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek".

7. A Welshman helped make Shakespeare a writer.

Shakespeare's Welsh teacher, Thomas Jenkins, had a profound influence on the playwright in his formative years, according to eminent Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate. Jenkins taught Latin to the young Shakespeare at the King Edward VI grammar school in Stratford-upon-Avon, an education many think instilled the playwright's linguistic flair.

8. Many of Shakespeare's actors were Welsh.

The Bard appears to have harboured something of a penchant for the Renaissance's answers to Michael Sheen and Richard Burton: at any one time there were multiple Welsh actors in The Chamberlain's Men, including Robert Gough, Jack Jones and Henry Evans recorded as company players.

9. Shakespeare chickened out of writing in Welsh.

He wasn't first and he won't be the last but nevertheless, while Shakespeare transcribes whole scenes in French in Henry V, and likewise into gibberish in All Well That Ends Well, for a scene in 1 Henry IV when the Welsh Lady Mortimer features, he reverts to the stage direction "The lady speaks in Welsh". It's assumed Shakespeare would have relied on the ad-libbing talents of his Welsh players for this scene. However his contemporary, Thomas Dekker, included Welsh phrases and words in at least half a dozen of his plays.

10. Shakespeare probably never set foot in Wales.

Somewhat incredibly given Stratford-Upon-Avon's close proximity to Wales, his Welsh granny and the abundance of references to Wales in his work, there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever found it necessary to visit the country to which is he was so closely tied and from which he drew considerable inspiration.

Clearly he was of the opinion "that way madness lies."

Erected in 1923 and reading 'Hollywoodland', it was originally an advert for a nearby housing development. In fact, it was the death of a Welsh actress in 1932 which helped spawn the potent symbolism now associated with the iconic white lettering lining the Los Angeles hills.

Millicent Lilian Entwistle, commonly known as Peg Entwistle, was born in Port Talbot on 5 February 1908. Her parents returned to West Kensington, London, where Entwistle spent her early childhood. She was a striking platinum blonde with sharp delicate features and an arresting presence, seemingly poised for stardom.

Detail from Peg Entwistle's birth certificate

Entwistle was an accomplished actress. So good, in fact, that Bette Davies cited one of her leading Broadway performances as the reason she wanted to act: "I had to be an actress... exactly like Peg Entwistle."

Unfortunately, Entwistle's ill-fortune far outweighed the good. She lost both her parents at a young age, her mother to illness and her father in a hit-and-run accident following the family's emigration to America in 1922. It was after this tragedy that Entwistle determined to carve out a career as an actress, remaining in New York City while her brothers stayed with an uncle in Ohio.

A stint as a Broadway performer followed, initially minor roles in productions, including a non-speaking part alongside Ethel Barrymore in Hamlet in 1925, before she landed her first credited role in The Man From Toronto a year later.

She worked consistently from 1926 onwards, appearing in nine productions, including Tommy, Sherlock Holmes and Little Women. Though she enjoyed some success, work was hard to come by and often brief: her last Broadway role in A Night Of Barrie closed after barely a month in early 1932.

Photograph of Peg Entwistle (courtesy of the Bruce Torrence Hollywood Photograph Collection/Hollywood Sign Trust © HollywoodPhotographs.com)

Entwistle had moved to Los Angeles by May 1932, appearing alongside Billie Burke in The Mad Hopes. She quickly won her first film role as Hazel Cousins in Thirteen Women, since cited as one of the first female ensemble films.

Unfortunately, the film was both a commercial and critical failure, suffering huge cuts following its previews which meant Entwistle barely featured in the final edit. Thirteen Women wouldn't premiere until a month after her death but, clearly unhappy with her performance, RKO studios failed to renew her contract and offers for further work dried up.

With her professional life stalling, Entwistle had also suffered the breakdown of her marriage to fellow actor Robert Keith in 1929. She developed depression, her uncle later confiding in police officers that he was aware of her "intense mental anguish."

On 18 September 1932, the body of young woman was found in the ravine below Mount Lee in the Hollywood hills. Dominating the hillside above was the 50-foot bold lettering reading "Hollywoodland'.

A female hiker made the tragic discovery. She telephoned the central Los Angeles police station and, according to the subsequent police report, said: "I was hiking near the Hollywoodland sign today and near the bottom I found a woman's shoe and jacket. A little further on I noticed a purse. In it was a suicide note.

"I looked down the mountain and saw a body. I don't want any publicity in this matter, so I wrapped up the jacket, shoes and purse in a bundle and laid them on the steps of the Hollywood police station." Then she hung up. The identity of the hiker was never established.

The note in the purse read: "I am afraid I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E"

The identity of the body was initially a mystery, leading to the suicide note's publication in several newspapers. Charles Entwistle, Peg's uncle, eventually made the connection between the actress's disappearance and the note's signed initials and, two days after the hiker's discovery, identified the young woman as his niece.

Entwistle, it seems, had leapt to her death from the Hollywoodland sign after telling her uncle she was visiting some friends and a drugstore. It is thought she carried the suicide note on her person as she set off for the hills, hiking up Mount Lee before scaling a maintenance ladder on the back of the sign's letter 'H'.

It was around two days before Peg Entwistle's body was found in a ravine 140 feet beneath the sign. Reaching a verdict of suicide, the coroner's report established that Entwistle had died from multiple fractures of the pelvis.

The funeral was held on 20 September 1932 in Hollywood before her ashes were sent to Ohio to be interred with her father's. The grave remained unmarked until 2010 when, on 16 September following a campaign on Facebook, the Entwistles' burial site was given an engraved granite marker.

The tragedy of Peg Entwistle has been absorbed into Hollywood folklore; for many hers is another tale of adoration and acclaim promised and devastation delivered, one that so many aspiring performers have suffered at the mercy of Tinseltown.

Yet despite the unfortunate events leading up to her death, the depth of Entwistle's despair clearly lay in suffering beyond her recent professional setbacks. Her quietly accomplished Broadway career is evidence of her talent as an actress, and the treatment she received from the notoriously fickle Hollywood studios was not particularly unusual, rather a part and parcel of many painful journeys to the top.

What is certain is that in her final act, Peg Entwistle transformed herself into the symbol of thwarted ambition that Hollywood came to represent for many failed performers, ensuring the legendary status of both the Hollywood sign and the girl who jumped from its dizzying heights.