J Mervyn Williams, who founded the Cardiff Singer of the World competition n 1983, has died aged 74.

'Merv', as he was universally known, was BBC Wales' Head of Music in the first half of the 1980s, he was responsible for a huge amount of music broadcasting from Wales, during which the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra (now the BBC National Orchestra of Wales) became the most-televised orchestra in Britain.

But perhaps Merv's greatest achievement at the BBC was the establishment of Cardiff Singer of the World. Read Merv's recollections of the struggle he had to get Cardiff Singer off the ground in 1983, and our full tribute on the competition website.