Owen John Thomas (born 3 October 1939) is a former Plaid Cymru politician who was a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the South Wales Central region from 1999 to 2007. Early life and education Owen John Thomas was born in Albany Road, Cardiff, where his father, John Owen Thomas, had a pharmacy. John Owen Thomas was from Treorchy and the brother of the Alderman Reverend Degwel Thomas, the Chairman of Glamorgan Council for 19 years. On his paternal side both his grandparents spoke Welsh and came from a prominent family of Welsh Baptists in North Pembrokeshire, including the poet preacher Myfyr Emlyn. Thomas' mother, Evelyn Jane Thomas, came from Marros in Carmarthenshire, and her father was Welsh speaking. Despite having Welsh speaking grandparents Thomas' parents did not speak Welsh as adults, and therefore, he and his two sisters were raised in an English language home. Thomas was a pupil at Marlborough Road School, Cardiff, and at Howardian Grammar School. He left school at sixteen to work in the docks, and had various other jobs including as an analytical chemist. Thomas later attended the Glamorgan College of Education and the University of Wales, Cardiff, where he completed an MA in the history of the Welsh Language. This formed part of his chapter in the book Iaith Carreg fy Aelwyd, published in 1998, and its English language version. Thomas was deputy headteacher of Gladstone Primary School before being elected to the National Assembly for Wales. He is a former chairman of the Cardiff region of the UCAC trade union. Thomas has been active in Plaid Cymru since his teens, filling a variety of posts from branch secretary to vice president. At the 1981 Plaid Cymru Conference, he succeeded in having 'socialism' included amongst the party's main aims. He is a longstanding champion of the campaign for leasehold reform and a founder member of Clwb Ifor Bach (Cardiff's Welsh Language night club), whose president he was from 1983 to 1989. He learned Welsh in his late twenties and played a key role in promoting Welsh medium education in the city, naming several of the schools with historic Cardiff Welsh names. Political career From 1999 to 2007 Thomas was a member of the National Assembly for Wales, representing the South Wales Central region for Plaid Cymru. He was Shadow Minister for Culture at the National Assembly for Wales. Thomas was a firm