Alan Davies Popular Books

Alan Davies Biography & Facts

Alan Roger Davies (; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series Jonathan Creek (1997–2016) and as the only permanent panellist on the BBC panel show QI since its premiere in 2003, outlasting its original host Stephen Fry. Early life and education Davies was born in Loughton, Essex, and spent his childhood years in Chingford. When Davies was six, his mother died from leukaemia and he was raised by his father. He was sexually abused by his father from age 8 to 13, as described in his book Just Ignore Him. Davies also wrote that his brother and sister were turned against him, which began his strong desire to please others. This led him to shoplift for schoolmates and play the joker at home. Davies attended Staples Road School in Loughton and was privately educated at the private Bancroft's School in Woodford Green, where he gained eight O-Levels. He then moved on to Loughton College of Further Education where he gained four more O-Levels and two A-Levels (Communications & Theatre Studies). He graduated in Drama & Theatre Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1988, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in 2003. In 2016, he pursued a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, which he completed in September 2018. Career Stand-up Davies began performing comedy in 1988 at the Whitstable Labour Club. In 1991, he was named Time Out's Best Young Comic. He continued touring and performing in the UK and Australia, winning the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy in 1994. That show was released on video and audio cassette in 1995 as Alan Davies Live at the Lyric recorded at the Lyric Theatre as part of the Perrier Pick of the Fringe season in October 1994. A version of his show Urban Trauma, which ran in the West End at the Duchess Theatre and toured the UK and Australia, was shown on BBC One in 1998. In 2012, Davies planned a new tour called Life is Pain. The title for this show came from a story he heard about a six-year-old girl being told off by her mother and responding "Life is pain". Davies said "This really made me laugh". The tour was broadcast on Dave. Radio and television In 1994 and 1995, Davies hosted Alan's Big One for three series on Radio 1 before appearing in Channel 4's spoof travel show One for the Road (made by Channel X in 1994/5). From 1997 to 2016, he played the title role in Jonathan Creek, a trick-deviser for a stage magician, with a side interest in solving crimes. Jonathan Creek won a BAFTA for Best Drama and brought Davies to mainstream attention. The series ran semi-regularly between 1997 and 2004; the series on New Year's Day 2009 with a special episode titled "The Grinning Man", which was broadcast on the BBC. Further specials were aired in 2010 ("The Judas Tree") and 2013 ("The Clue of the Savant's Thumb"). Davies co-wrote and starred in his own radio sitcom, The Alan Davies Show, in 1998. Cassettes of the show were produced and released by the BBC, with episodes broadcast on the digital radio station BBC7. He played Russell Boyd in the BBC comedy A Many Splintered Thing, also in 1998 and 2000. In 2001, Davies played Robert Gossage in Bob and Rose, a comedy drama about a gay man falling for a woman. He won the Best Actor award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his performance. He also played Jack the dog in the radio sitcom About a Dog. In 2003, Davies appeared as a Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on Top Gear with a time of 1:54 in wet conditions. He returned in Series 8 with 1:50.3 in dry conditions. During a period from the mid-1990s to 2002, Davies advertised for Abbey National. Davies took on a less comedic role in 2004, starring as Henry Farmer, a maverick barrister, in ITV Sunday night drama The Brief, for two series. Subsequent drama roles include Superintendent Mallard in Agatha Christie's Marple (ITV, 2008), as well as appearances in The Good Housekeeping Guide (BBC One, 2006), Roman Road (ITV 2004) and Hotel Babylon (BBC One, 2008). He argued the case for John Lennon as the greatest Briton of all time on the BBC's Great Britons series in 2002. In 2007, Davies starred in the second episode of ITV's You Don't Know You're Born and on The Unbelievable Truth. He has appeared in an episode of the BBC science programme Horizon in which Professor Marcus du Sautoy attempted to introduce him to elements of mathematical thought which was broadcast on BBC Two on 31 March 2009. He went on to appear in Horizon for a second time in November 2009, this time leading the episode — du Sautoy also returned as a guest speaker. On 16 May 2010, Davies appeared in "Your Sudden Death Question", an episode of the ITV detective series Lewis, as Marcus Richard, a scamming quizmaster at a competition held in an Oxford college, at which some of the contestants are murdered. In September 2010, he began a three-part documentary series Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution (Channel 4), partly based on his autobiographical book My Favourite People and Me, 1978–88. In September 2010, a BBC comedy series entitled Whites starring Davies as a chef premiered. It was cancelled after the first series. It is believed to have been a victim of the cuts at the BBC subsequent to the reduced licence fee settlement. In April 2011, Davies appeared as the guest on the return of the ABC TV conversation program A Quiet Word With .... In 2011 Davies was also one of the judges on the ITV programme Show Me The Funny, a talent contest for new and aspiring stand-up comedy performers. In September 2012, Davies made his first appearance on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz series, winning The Big Fat Quiz of the '90s alongside Phill Jupitus. In February 2014, Davies presented a chat show Alan Davies Après-Ski on BBC Two, which looked at some of the highlights of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. He also co-hosted the Brazilian Banter podcast for ITV with Tom & Dom from Bantams Banter. The show was a satirical look at the 2014 FIFA World Cup hosted by Brazil. Since 2014, he has hosted The Dog Rescuers for Channel 5 and the chat show Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled for Dave. In 2021, Davis took part in the twelfth series of Taskmaster, finishing in joint third with Desiree Burch. He would be a studio fill-in for Jonnie Peacock for the "New Year's Treat" special in 2022, due to Peacock being unwell. QI Davies appears as the only permanent panellist on the BBC Two comedy quiz game QI, which was hosted by Stephen Fry from 2003 to 2015, and then by Sandi Toksvig. He also contributed "four words" to the QI book The Book of General Ignorance (which appear after Stephen Fry's foreword), "Will this do, Stephen?". Davies has appeared in almost every regular episode of the show, though in one episode (Episode 10 of Series D, "Divination") he appeared, pre-recorded, in only the first few minutes, as he was in.... Discover the Alan Davies popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alan Davies books.