Alan Davies

Alan Davies, born 6 March 1966 is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.

Early life

Davies was born in Loughton, Essex. His childhood years were spent in Chingford. Alan's mother died when he was six; he was subsequently raised along with an older brother and younger sister by his father, an accountant.

Davies attended Staples Road School in Loughton before 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 from the University of Kent  in 1988 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2003.

Personal life

Davies married writer and former literary agent Katie Maskell, on 13 January 2007 after a 6-month engagement. Friend and comedy partner Bill Bailey was Davies' best man and delivered a speech at the ceremony. Their first child, Susie, was born on 9 December 2009. Their second child, a boy, was born on 18 June 2011.

Davies is a pescetarian. He has narrated an anti-vivisection video called Wasted Lives.

In late 2007 he made UK national news when The Times and Daily Telegraph reported that Davies was involved in an altercation during which he bit the ear of a homeless man. Davies had just left a wake at the nearby Groucho Club. He told The Times in 2009, "He wasn't a tramp. He was a raging, horrendous a***hole. He called me a c*** several times. Or if it wasn't him, it was his mate. And, yes, I went for him and, yes, I did it in what turned out to be an amusing way." Following the incident, Davies was banned from the Groucho Club.

Davies has recently become, like his QI co-star Stephen Fry, an avid user of Twitter, updating his progress writing a new book and discussing events like sitting a few seats away from Michael Jackson at the theatre.

Davies is a fan of Arsenal F.C. and a season ticket holder. He says he became a fan because his "brother was a Spurs fan and he didn't want to be the same". Davies also used to host "It's Up For Grabs Now" a podcast, which took a light-hearted look at goings on at the club. On 18 January 2011, Alan began hosting the new Arsenal Podcast "The Tuesday Club" with stand-up comedian Ian Stone, friend Keith Dover, DJ Tayo Popoola and Skint Records founder Damian Harris who sit with him at Arsenal home games.

Career

Davies began performing stand-up 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 DVD of Davies's stand up has been released entitled Urban Trauma. A version of that show, which ran in the West End at the Duchess Theatre and toured the UK and United States, was shown on BBC1 in 1998.

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). He later played the title role in Jonathan Creek, as a trick-deviser for a stage magician with a side interest in solving crimes, between 1997 and 2004. Jonathan Creek won a BAFTA for Best Drama and was the show which brought Davies to mainstream attention. On New Year's Day, 2009, a special episode of Jonathan Creek, "The Grinning Man", was broadcast on the BBC. Davies returned Creek at Easter 2010 for a one-off episode, "The Judas Tree". 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, Alan was a Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on Top Gear. He posted a time of 1:54 in wet conditions. He returned in Series 8 and did a 1:50.3 in dry conditions.

Davies took on a less comedic role in 2004, starring as Henry Farmer, a maverick barrister, in the ITV Sunday night drama The Brief, but quit after two series. Subsequent drama roles include Superintendent Mallard in 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 was invited to champion the case for John Lennon to be the greatest Briton of all time on the BBC's Great Britons series in 2002. In 2007, Davies starred in the second episode of ITV1's You Don't Know You're Born. He also recently became a semi-regular on The Unbelievable Truth.

He has appeared in an episode of the BBC science programme Horizon in which Professor Marcus du Sautoy attempts to introduce him to elements of mathematical thought. The episode 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 — Professor Marcus du Sautoy also returns as a guest speaker.

On 16 May 2010 Davies appeared in the ITV detective series Lewis, as Marcus Richard, the 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.

QI

Davies currently appears as the permanent panellist on the BBC quiz game QI, which is hosted by Stephen Fry. 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 on every episode of the show (including the never broadcast pilot episode), though in one episode (Episode 10 of Series D) he appeared in only the first few minutes, in a pre-recorded scene, as he was in Paris attending the Champions League Final during the actual recording. His chair was empty for the rest of the episode although his voice was heard during "General Ignorance".

Books

Davies' first book, the autobiographical My Favourite People and Me, 1978-88 was published by Michael Joseph (Penguin Books) in late 2009. Of the memoir, Davies said he wished to "attempt to remember what I liked as a boy/youth/idiot and to work out why". The titular favourite people include Anton Chekhov, John Belushi, Barry Sheene, Margaret Thatcher ("only for a few days" the author allows), John McEnroe and Starsky and Hutch. The book also mentions Arsenal, the football team supported by Davies; he recalls his mother sewing their club badge and captain's number on to his shirt, as a child, only a year or so before she died. The paperback was published under the title Rebel Without A Clue: How the 80s Made Me.