Dickie Davies

For the footballer, see Dickie Davis.

Richard "Dickie" Davies (born 30 April 1933, Wallasey, Merseyside) is a British television presenter, best known for presenting World of Sport from 1968 until 1985.

Dickie Davies in the World of Sport Studio.

Davies attended grammar school, did National Service in the RAF and was a purser on the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth ocean liners. His first job in broadcasting was as an announcer for Southern Television. In the early stages of his career Davis was known by his birth name, Richard Davies, but changed to Dickie Davies at the suggestion of his ITV Sport colleague Jimmy Hill. Davies became known for the white quiff of hair on his forehead (see Poliosis), and this became his trademark appearance, and was also much loved by TV comedy impressionists during his years on World of Sport.

After World of Sport ended in 1985, Davis stayed with ITV, presenting boxing and snooker, as well as playing a part in their coverage of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He left ITV Sport in 1989.

After leaving ITV, Davis joined the original incarnation of Eurosport, which was then owned by Sky and the EBU. He fronted their innovative snooker coverage, including the one-off 1991 Mita World Masters. He presented sports bulletins from his home for Classic FM in its early days.

In the early 1990s, Davis suffered a stroke, which forced him to give up his work on Classic FM, but eventually made a good recovery, although it was several years before his speech fully returned to normal. In the mid 1990s he fronted Dickie Davies' Sporting Heroes and Bobby Charlton's Football Scrapbook for British Sky Broadcasting.

In 2005 he presented a one-off special 50 Years of World of Sport for ITV, as part of the ITV 50 celebrations. He also narrated two DVDs looking back on the years of British wrestling coverage on ITV, a sport he admits he hated.

He is a board member of a frozen food company, and occasionally contributes to ESPN Classic.

Dickie is also the president of Sandford Springs Golf Club, which is owned by Leaderboard Golf

Reference is made to Davies in the Half Man Half Biscuit song, "Dickie Davies Eyes".

External links

• Dickie Davies Guardian Interview

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Name	Davies, Dickie
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Date of birth	30 April 1933
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