Barry Davies
Encyclopedia
Barry George Davies MBE
(born 24 October 1937 in London
, England
) is a British
sports commentator
. He has covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC
.
commentary, Davies has commentated on numerous other sports, including badminton
, beach volleyball
, cycling
, ice hockey
, ice skating
, tennis
, gymnastics
, hockey
and athletics
, and primarily in the BBC's Olympics
coverage, where he twice (Sydney 2000 & Athens 2004) commentated on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games. He was also the 'Voice of the Boat Race' in years between 1993 and 2004, until the BBC lost the rights to cover the event, and the presenter of Maestro in the 1980s, a series of interviews with retired sporting legends.
Davies was educated at Cranbrook School
- which also numbers commentators Brian Moore
and Peter West
amongst its alumni - and King's College London
, where he read Dentistry, although he never qualified as a dentist. (He says in his autobiography that he "flunked out" due to spending too much time playing and watching sport.) He started his broadcasting career with British Forces Broadcasting
whilst doing his National Service in the army as a second-lieutenant in West Germany. His boss at BFBS was Gerald Sinstadt
, who, upon their return to England, helped Davies get into BBC Radio
in 1963, working concurrently as a sports journalist for The Times
. Ahead of the 1966 World Cup
he took his first steps into television with ITV
. He made his debut on a Fairs Cup tie between Chelsea
and Milan
, before covering England
's pre-World-Cup friendly with West Germany. During the World Cup in England, Davies covered all the matches in the North East (including Italy's infamous defeat by North Korea) although none of them were broadcast live, because in those days all the matches on the same day kicked off at the same time and in the days before multi-channel television only one game, invariably the one involving England, would be shown live (Davies would not make his "live" network football debut until the 1970 World Cup, when he commentated on Italy
vs Uruguay
for the BBC, although in May 1969 he had commentated on the Wales
vs Scotland
game in the Home International Championship when still with ITV, but this game was only shown live in the London Weekend and HTV Wales regions).
His spell with ITV
continued for another three years, providing commentaries for ABC
and Granada Television
. Davies also covered the 1968 Olympic Games
in Mexico City, commentating on a number of sports. When LWT launched in 1968, he was the choice of the Deputy Head of Sport John Bromley to commentate on and present their new football show The Big Match
. Bromley's boss Jimmy Hill
won the argument though and installed his choice, Brian Moore
, in the role, a role he would fill for another thirty years (Moore had commentated on the 1966 World Cup Final for BBC radio).
Most of Davies's career has been spent with the BBC
. He joined the Corporation in July 1969. For the next 35 years he was closely associated with the Match of the Day
programme, making his debut in unusual circumstances on 9 August 1969. The programme was to take up a new format, providing each region with its own second match. Davies was signed primarily to cover matches in the North of England and was assigned League Champions Leeds United
's match with Tottenham Hotspur
on day one. However, on the day before the broadcast, main commentator and presenter David Coleman
lost his voice, succumbing to the same flu bug that had ruled Kenneth Wolstenholme
out of covering that weekend's matches. Davies, who had stayed in the Queen's Hotel in Leeds on the Friday night, describes in his autobiography how he "barely had time to eat his cornflakes" on the Saturday morning before being put in a fast car and driven to London so he could commentate on the main match, Crystal Palace
v Manchester United
, and co-present the show with Frank Bough. His final appearance on the programme came on 25 September 2004 (Manchester City
vs Arsenal
). Davies's reason for retiring from football commentary was that he felt he was not getting enough "big" matches, and was being "downgraded". Indeed, the two-year extension he was being offered on his contract made clear that he would not be covering any "live" football, and there was no guarantee that he would have any involvement at all with the 2006 World Cup. He felt this unacceptable and declined the offer.
As a BBC football commentator Davies covered nine World Cups
(he also covered one with ITV, in 1966, making a total of ten covered) – including the 1994 final – and seven European Championships
. He commentated the final of the 1972 tournament in Belgium between West Germany and the USSR, but covered only two FA Cup finals
in his career – 1995 and 1996 – as John Motson
regularly landed the key games. Although Motson and Davies were often portrayed as firm rivals for the main commentary spot at the BBC, the pair have spoken of their respect for each other, with Davies insisting there has "never been any animosity" between them.
Davies was to enjoy most of his leading games in the finals of the European Cup
, which was covered by BBC in alternate years (by agreement with ITV) during the era of English dominance in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He commentated on twelve in all - including triumphs for Liverpool
and Nottingham Forest
, and the horrors of Heysel
in 1985. He also tended to commentate on the draws for the World Cup and European Championship
and on the Football League Cup
final on the rare occasions it was shown on the BBC.
Despite missing out on commentating on any International tournament final apart from that of 1994
, Davies would normally be chosen for at least one England match if they qualified. England matches he commentated on include the quarter-finals against Argentina
in World Cup 1986
and Cameroon
in World Cup 1990
and the semi-final of Euro 96 against Germany
. He was also often the BBC's choice of commentator for broadcast to English viewers if Scotland were involved in a World Cup match, such as the opening game of World Cup 1998
against Brazil.
Davies continued to work for the BBC
on a freelance basis, covering the 2006 Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games
and in the summers of 2007 and 2008 could be heard commentating on the French Open (when in both years he covered the Men's Singles Final), the Wimbledon Championships before covering the hockey
and beach volleyball
at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
. That same year, he also reprised his role as the voice of the Boat Race by leading the commentary team on the radio station LBC
, renewing it in 2009 - the last year that LBC has the radio rights to the contest. He has also appeared as a guest panellist on the long-running BBC game show, Call My Bluff.
After he was dropped from the 2009 French Open tennis and the World and European Ice Skating Championships, and the following year was not involved at all with the 2010 Winter Olympics
(after working on every Olympic tournament since 1968), and did not cover that year's Boat Race when the contract returned to the BBC, there was speculation as to whether his links with the BBC had finally been severed. However, he reappeared on the BBC in June 2010 for what was his 25th Wimbledon, but his only involvement with the 2010 World Cup was to voice over television commercials for a supermarket's beer promotion, and to introduce a mock line-up of comedians in the structure of a football team for a UK satellite television channel. In September 2010 the BBC announced that he would be going to that year's Commonwealth Games
in India
to commentate on the hockey tournament.
On 23 August 2007, Headline press published his memoirs of 40 years in sports broadcasting, entitled 'Interesting, Very Interesting' after a commentary line from a match between Derby and Manchester City in 1974. When promoting the book on Talksport
programme Hawksbee
& Jacobs
, Davies revealed that he was a fan of Tottenham Hotspur
. Davies said he did not want to be accused of bias, so did not want to reveal who he supported during his career, or even where he was born. He revealed on a radio interview with Simon Mayo
in 2007 (after he had retired from football commentary) that he also supports non-league side Windsor & Eton
, and currently serves as their President.
Davies once again commentated on the Wimbledon championships from the BBC in 2011. The BBC announced in July 2011 that Davies would commentate on the Hockey tournament at the 2012 London Olympics, meaning that Davies will have commentated on 12 Summer Olympics, overtaking the record held by David Coleman
for a UK sports broadcaster
world in cult BBC
sketch show Big Train
, commentating with his distinctive enthusiasm on the fictional "World Stare-Out Championships" with Phil Cornwell
.
In 1995 Davies put his voice to Actua Soccer
by Gremlin Interactive
. He also provided commentary in sequels to the game, including the UEFA European Championship official video game of the 1996 UEFA European Championship (Euro '96). Trevor Brooking
joined Davies as co-commentator in the later titles.
Since 2003, Davies has voiced the various football video games produced by Codemasters
: the two Club Football titles released in 2003 and 2004, England International Football (also 2004, released to tie in with that year's Euro 2004 competition), and the LMA Manager series since LMA 2004.
in London
. During the war he was evacuated to Gloucestershire.
Davies lives near Windsor
in Berkshire
, England, with his wife, Penny, a former British Airways
stewardess, to whom he has been married since 1968. They have two children: a son, Mark, who briefly followed in his father's footsteps as a sports reporter on BBC Radio 5
before becoming a senior executive with the on-line bookmakers Betfair
; and a daughter, Giselle, an amateur gymnast, who moved into public relations with the Jordan Formula 1
Team before becoming the IOC's Director of Communications.
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
(born 24 October 1937 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sports commentator
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. He has covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
Broadcasting career
Although best-known for his footballFootball (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
commentary, Davies has commentated on numerous other sports, including badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
, cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, ice skating
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
, and primarily in the BBC's Olympics
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
coverage, where he twice (Sydney 2000 & Athens 2004) commentated on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games. He was also the 'Voice of the Boat Race' in years between 1993 and 2004, until the BBC lost the rights to cover the event, and the presenter of Maestro in the 1980s, a series of interviews with retired sporting legends.
Davies was educated at Cranbrook School
Cranbrook School, Kent
Cranbrook School is a co-educational boarding and day grammar school located in Cranbrook, Kent in South East England.-Brief history:Founded in 1518 for poor boys of the town, it received a charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1574. Although in 1817 the town petitioned the Master of the Rolls,...
- which also numbers commentators Brian Moore
Brian Moore (commentator)
Brian Moore was a British sports commentator.-Early life:Moore was born in Gillingham, Kent and educated at the Cranbrook School, Kent, which was also the school of fellow commentators Peter West and Barry Davies....
and Peter West
Peter West
Peter Anthony West was a BBC presenter and sports commentator best known for his work on the corporation's cricket, tennis and rugby coverage as well as occasionally commentating on field hockey. Throughout his television career he remained freelance.-Early life:He was an only child...
amongst its alumni - and King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, where he read Dentistry, although he never qualified as a dentist. (He says in his autobiography that he "flunked out" due to spending too much time playing and watching sport.) He started his broadcasting career with British Forces Broadcasting
British Forces Broadcasting Service
The British Forces Broadcasting Service provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Tristan da Cunha as well as a live satellite...
whilst doing his National Service in the army as a second-lieutenant in West Germany. His boss at BFBS was Gerald Sinstadt
Gerald Sinstadt
Gerald Sinstadt is a British commentator and broadcaster, usually on football.-Broadcasting career:Born in Folkestone, Kent, Sinstadt attended the Harvey Grammar School, and began broadcasting on the British Forces Broadcasting Service in October 1949 and BBC Radio in the 1950s and 1960s - where...
, who, upon their return to England, helped Davies get into BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
in 1963, working concurrently as a sports journalist for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. Ahead of the 1966 World Cup
1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
he took his first steps into television with ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. He made his debut on a Fairs Cup tie between Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
and Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
, before covering England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
's pre-World-Cup friendly with West Germany. During the World Cup in England, Davies covered all the matches in the North East (including Italy's infamous defeat by North Korea) although none of them were broadcast live, because in those days all the matches on the same day kicked off at the same time and in the days before multi-channel television only one game, invariably the one involving England, would be shown live (Davies would not make his "live" network football debut until the 1970 World Cup, when he commentated on Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
vs Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
for the BBC, although in May 1969 he had commentated on the Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
vs Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
game in the Home International Championship when still with ITV, but this game was only shown live in the London Weekend and HTV Wales regions).
His spell with ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
continued for another three years, providing commentaries for ABC
Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies established in the United Kingdom during the 1950s by cinema chain companies in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television which was taking away their cinema audiences.In this...
and Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
. Davies also covered the 1968 Olympic Games
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
in Mexico City, commentating on a number of sports. When LWT launched in 1968, he was the choice of the Deputy Head of Sport John Bromley to commentate on and present their new football show The Big Match
The Big Match
The Big Match is a British Association football television programme, which screened on ITV regularly between 1968 and 1992 ....
. Bromley's boss Jimmy Hill
Jimmy Hill
James William Thomas "Jimmy" Hill OBE is an English association football personality. His career has taken in virtually every role in football, including player, union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter, analyst and match official.-Early life:Hill was born...
won the argument though and installed his choice, Brian Moore
Brian Moore (commentator)
Brian Moore was a British sports commentator.-Early life:Moore was born in Gillingham, Kent and educated at the Cranbrook School, Kent, which was also the school of fellow commentators Peter West and Barry Davies....
, in the role, a role he would fill for another thirty years (Moore had commentated on the 1966 World Cup Final for BBC radio).
Most of Davies's career has been spent with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. He joined the Corporation in July 1969. For the next 35 years he was closely associated with the Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
programme, making his debut in unusual circumstances on 9 August 1969. The programme was to take up a new format, providing each region with its own second match. Davies was signed primarily to cover matches in the North of England and was assigned League Champions Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
's match with Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
on day one. However, on the day before the broadcast, main commentator and presenter David Coleman
David Coleman
David Coleman, OBE is an English former sports commentator and TV presenter who worked for the BBC for almost fifty years. In 2000, he was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest honour of the Olympic movement....
lost his voice, succumbing to the same flu bug that had ruled Kenneth Wolstenholme
Kenneth Wolstenholme
Kenneth Wolstenholme DFC & Bar was the football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s, most notable for his commentary during the 1966 FIFA World Cup which included the famous phrase "some people are on the pitch...they think it's all over....it is now!", as Geoff Hurst scored...
out of covering that weekend's matches. Davies, who had stayed in the Queen's Hotel in Leeds on the Friday night, describes in his autobiography how he "barely had time to eat his cornflakes" on the Saturday morning before being put in a fast car and driven to London so he could commentate on the main match, Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
v Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
, and co-present the show with Frank Bough. His final appearance on the programme came on 25 September 2004 (Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
vs Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
). Davies's reason for retiring from football commentary was that he felt he was not getting enough "big" matches, and was being "downgraded". Indeed, the two-year extension he was being offered on his contract made clear that he would not be covering any "live" football, and there was no guarantee that he would have any involvement at all with the 2006 World Cup. He felt this unacceptable and declined the offer.
As a BBC football commentator Davies covered nine World Cups
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
(he also covered one with ITV, in 1966, making a total of ten covered) – including the 1994 final – and seven European Championships
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
. He commentated the final of the 1972 tournament in Belgium between West Germany and the USSR, but covered only two FA Cup finals
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
in his career – 1995 and 1996 – as John Motson
John Motson
John Walker Motson OBE ,AKA Motty, is an English football commentator on both television and radio as well a well known moter. He made his name as 'Moty' after he moted out the entire Huddersfield huddersfield cheerleaders team. writer.-Biography:The son of a Methodist minister, Motson was educated...
regularly landed the key games. Although Motson and Davies were often portrayed as firm rivals for the main commentary spot at the BBC, the pair have spoken of their respect for each other, with Davies insisting there has "never been any animosity" between them.
Davies was to enjoy most of his leading games in the finals of the European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, which was covered by BBC in alternate years (by agreement with ITV) during the era of English dominance in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He commentated on twelve in all - including triumphs for Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
and Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
, and the horrors of Heysel
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy...
in 1985. He also tended to commentate on the draws for the World Cup and European Championship
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
and on the Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
final on the rare occasions it was shown on the BBC.
Despite missing out on commentating on any International tournament final apart from that of 1994
1994 FIFA World Cup Final
The 1994 FIFA World Cup Final took place in Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California, United States. Brazil won the World Cup against Italy on a penalty shootout after the score was 0–0. This was Brazil's fourth World Cup title. It was also the first ever World Cup final to be decided by a penalty...
, Davies would normally be chosen for at least one England match if they qualified. England matches he commentated on include the quarter-finals against Argentina
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
in World Cup 1986
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially...
and Cameroon
Cameroon national football team
The Cameroon national football team, nicknamed Les Lions Indomptables , is controlled by the Fédération Camerounaise de Football and is Africa's most successful side in FIFA world cup; having qualified for the FIFA World Cup six times – in 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010– more than any...
in World Cup 1990
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
and the semi-final of Euro 96 against Germany
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
. He was also often the BBC's choice of commentator for broadcast to English viewers if Scotland were involved in a World Cup match, such as the opening game of World Cup 1998
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...
against Brazil.
Davies continued to work for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on a freelance basis, covering the 2006 Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
and in the summers of 2007 and 2008 could be heard commentating on the French Open (when in both years he covered the Men's Singles Final), the Wimbledon Championships before covering the hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
and beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. That same year, he also reprised his role as the voice of the Boat Race by leading the commentary team on the radio station LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
, renewing it in 2009 - the last year that LBC has the radio rights to the contest. He has also appeared as a guest panellist on the long-running BBC game show, Call My Bluff.
After he was dropped from the 2009 French Open tennis and the World and European Ice Skating Championships, and the following year was not involved at all with the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
(after working on every Olympic tournament since 1968), and did not cover that year's Boat Race when the contract returned to the BBC, there was speculation as to whether his links with the BBC had finally been severed. However, he reappeared on the BBC in June 2010 for what was his 25th Wimbledon, but his only involvement with the 2010 World Cup was to voice over television commercials for a supermarket's beer promotion, and to introduce a mock line-up of comedians in the structure of a football team for a UK satellite television channel. In September 2010 the BBC announced that he would be going to that year's Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to commentate on the hockey tournament.
On 23 August 2007, Headline press published his memoirs of 40 years in sports broadcasting, entitled 'Interesting, Very Interesting' after a commentary line from a match between Derby and Manchester City in 1974. When promoting the book on Talksport
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
programme Hawksbee
Paul Hawksbee
Paul Hawksbee presents the Hawksbee and Jacobs show alongside Andy Jacobs on talkSPORT and has also presented You're on Sky Sports on the Sky Sports subscription TV channel....
& Jacobs
Andy Jacobs
Andrew Eustace Jacobs is a British sports radio personality who presents the Hawksbee and Jacobs show alongside Paul Hawksbee on talkSPORT in the UK, every weekday from 1-4pm....
, Davies revealed that he was a fan of Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
. Davies said he did not want to be accused of bias, so did not want to reveal who he supported during his career, or even where he was born. He revealed on a radio interview with Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo is an English radio presenter who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. As of January 2010, Mayo is presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 and, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews on BBC Radio 5 Live.In 2008, Mayo was recognised as the "radio...
in 2007 (after he had retired from football commentary) that he also supports non-league side Windsor & Eton
Windsor & Eton F.C.
Windsor & Eton F.C. was an English association football club based in Windsor, Berkshire, last playing in the Southern League Premier Division in 2010–11, until it was wound up on 2 February 2011 due to large debts. A new club, Windsor F.C., has been formed to compete in the 2011–12...
, and currently serves as their President.
Davies once again commentated on the Wimbledon championships from the BBC in 2011. The BBC announced in July 2011 that Davies would commentate on the Hockey tournament at the 2012 London Olympics, meaning that Davies will have commentated on 12 Summer Olympics, overtaking the record held by David Coleman
David Coleman
David Coleman, OBE is an English former sports commentator and TV presenter who worked for the BBC for almost fifty years. In 2000, he was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest honour of the Olympic movement....
for a UK sports broadcaster
Guest appearances
Davies brought his talents to the comedyComedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
world in cult BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sketch show Big Train
Big Train
Big Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...
, commentating with his distinctive enthusiasm on the fictional "World Stare-Out Championships" with Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell is an English comedian, actor, impressionist and writer. He is probably best known as being part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series...
.
In 1995 Davies put his voice to Actua Soccer
Actua Soccer
Actua Soccer is a football video game series that was developed by Gremlin Interactive as part of their Actua Sports series, and was the first football game to use full 3D graphics...
by Gremlin Interactive
Gremlin Interactive
Gremlin Interactive was a British software house based in Sheffield and working mostly in the home computer market.- History :...
. He also provided commentary in sequels to the game, including the UEFA European Championship official video game of the 1996 UEFA European Championship (Euro '96). Trevor Brooking
Trevor Brooking
Sir Trevor David Brooking CBE is a football player turned manager, on-air analyst, and administrator.Brooking attended Ripple Infants School and left Ilford County High School with 11 O-levels and 2 A-levels....
joined Davies as co-commentator in the later titles.
Since 2003, Davies has voiced the various football video games produced by Codemasters
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
: the two Club Football titles released in 2003 and 2004, England International Football (also 2004, released to tie in with that year's Euro 2004 competition), and the LMA Manager series since LMA 2004.
Personal life
Davies makes no mention of when he was born, his early years or even his place of birth in his autobiography, although official public records give his place of birth as IslingtonIslington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. During the war he was evacuated to Gloucestershire.
Davies lives near Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, England, with his wife, Penny, a former British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
stewardess, to whom he has been married since 1968. They have two children: a son, Mark, who briefly followed in his father's footsteps as a sports reporter on BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 may refer to the following United Kingdom radio stations:* BBC Radio 5 , on air from 1990 to 1994.* BBC Radio 5 Live, the current station, which replaced BBC Radio 5 in 1994....
before becoming a senior executive with the on-line bookmakers Betfair
Betfair
Betfair is the world's largest Internet betting exchange. The company is based in Hammersmith in West London, England. Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK and the largest betting exchange in the world. Betfair claim to have over 3...
; and a daughter, Giselle, an amateur gymnast, who moved into public relations with the Jordan Formula 1
Jordan Grand Prix
Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team is named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan...
Team before becoming the IOC's Director of Communications.