07/08/2008 - Grav - officially our idol
No accolade will ever be enough to mark the way Welsh rugby legend Ray Gravell touched the nation, according to his friends.
Close friends, colleagues and well- known personalities have spoken after Ray was voted the nation's top idol at his memorial concert at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff.
Dorian Davies, publicity officer for fan group Crys 16 and chairman of the Scarlet choir, was at the concert when Assembly presiding officer Lord Dafydd-Ellis said Grav was a fitting winner.
Mr Davies said: "When it was announced it sent a shiver through you - as everybody said, you can't give Ray enough of a tribute.
"As far as I am concerned, nobody deserved the honour more than Ray.
"The contribution he made, not just to rugby, but also the community and promoting the Welsh heritage and language, as well as bringing everybody together, meant he fully deserved this."
The Llanelli and British Lions centre- turned-broadcaster, who died last November, won a fifth of the 6,500 votes cast in the poll.
Singer Katherine Jenkins and boxer Joe Calzaghe were second and third in the list.
The poll was organised by the Welsh Assembly.
Voters were asked to choose from a shortlist of 10 Welsh public figures announced on March 1.
Assembly presiding officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas said: "The shortlist included historical figures, princes, singers and sportsmen, all of whom we as a nation are immensely proud," he said.
"But it is fitting that Ray, who was perhaps one of the proudest Welshmen, or certainly the one who displayed his love for his country the most, has been named as the nation's favourite Welsh person."
The other idols on the shortlist were singers Tom Jones and Bryn Terfel, BBC presenter Gethin Jones, footballer Ryan Giggs, rugby player James Hook, St David and the 10th Century Welsh king and law-maker Hywel Dda.
Voting took place through the Assembly's website, at Llangollen International Eisteddfod and the Royal Welsh Show, as well as in the Senedd.
Welsh entertainer Max Boyce said of Grav: "He was a dear friend, he deserved it. Nobody can pay him enough for what he did for Wales. It shows how much he was loved by everyone."
Mediaeval Welsh prince Owain Glyndwr did not make the shortlist. Neither did football legend John Charles, singer Dame Shirley Bassey, artist Kyffin Williams, politician Michael Howard, founder of the NHS Aneurin Bevan or snooker ace Terry Griffiths.
But there was only ever one person in it, as far as former Scarlets and Wales international Robin McBryde was concerned. He said: "It confirmed what we already knew about Grav because of his work in Wales."
AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas and MP Adam Price said the results showed the universal appeal Grav had.
Mr Price said: "It is no shock to me that Grav is held in such high regard.
"His impact on Welsh culture was huge and no more so than here in Wales."
Mr Glyn Thomas said: "The fact this result has been announced in the same week as the Eisteddfod is very fitting."