Robert Russell Davies (1946-), known as Russell Davies, is a British journalist and broadcaster.
He was born in Barmouth, North Wales and currently presents a Sunday radio programme on BBC Radio 2 which spotlights popular song. He was awarded a first class degree at St John's College, Cambridge but soon abandoned his post-graduate studies in German literature when the opportunity arose to tour with the Cambridge Footlights revue.
As a journalist, Davies worked as a film and television critic for The Observer and The Sunday Times, features writer and sports columnist for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, a caricaturist for The Times Literary Supplement and was a deputy editor of Punch. He edited Kenneth Williams's diaries for publication, despite being the target of Williams's acid pen in those same diaries. He regularly appeared on television in the 1980s, presenting Saturday Review for BBC2.
Davies is a jazz musician, playing the trombone, and has presented television and radio documentaries on the subject, including a year-long history for BBC Radio 3. He has written and presented other radio programmes including BBC Radio 4's series Word Of Mouth (winner of the 1996 European Radio, ONDAS prize), and a series on Radio 2 about songwriters Rodgers and Hart, Legends of Light Music. In 2003, Russell Davies wrote and presented Quest For Perfection, a film about jazz clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw, for BBC Four and produced by John Warburton (shortlisted for the 2004 Grierson Award). To date (July 2005), his film has been broadcast nine times.
His documentary on the life of the cartoonist Ronald Searle was shown on the BBC in 2006.
He makes frequent references to Wikipedia in his Sunday evening radio programme, usually to point out some error or omission in an article dealing with his area of expertise.
See also
- Edward Pygge, a pseudonym used by Davies
External links
- Davies' BBC Radio 2 programme
- Davies' Radio Roots programme on Deryck Guyler on BBC7's 'Listen again'
|
||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
