Michael Sheen

Welsh actor Michael Sheen quit Hollywood to return to his native Port Talbot and today he received a standing ovation at the end of his Aneurin Bevan lecture at the Hay Festival.
 
There was a tremendous sense of homecoming and empathy for this actor who uses his celebrity status to raise awareness of social issues. Today it was the NHS founded by Aneurin Bevan and now in serious danger of being dismantled.
 
Michael Sheen is a social activist who believes passionately in the power of the community to instigate change and the need for community action.
 
While all this is very worthy it would have been interesting to know
what drove him to quit Hollywood in order to return to his roots in Port Talbot.
 
What is without doubt though is the high esteem and affection he is held in here and Wales warm welcomes back to one of its most famous sons.

It is the first time in all the years of coming to Hay that I have seen a speaker receive two standing ovations.