Alan Davies facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alan Davies
Davies in 2014
Birth name	Alan Roger Davies
Born	(1966-03-06) 6 March 1966 (age 59) Loughton, England
Medium	Stand-up television film podcast
Alma mater	Loughton College of Further Education University of Kent (BA) Goldsmiths, University of London (MA)
Years active	1988–present
Genres	Observational comedy clean comedy surreal humour
Spouse	Katie Maskell ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	3
Notable works and roles	Jonathan Creek QI Bob & Rose Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled

Alan Roger Davies (born 6 March 1966) is a well-known English stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and TV presenter. He is famous for playing the main character in the BBC mystery drama series Jonathan Creek (1997–2016). He is also the only permanent panelist on the BBC quiz show QI since it started in 2003.

Early Life and School

Alan Davies was born in Loughton, Essex, and grew up in Chingford. When he was six years old, his mother passed away, and his father raised him.

He went to Staples Road School in Loughton. Later, he attended Bancroft's School, a private school in Woodford Green. He earned eight O-Levels there. He then studied at Loughton College of Further Education, where he gained more O-Levels and two A-Levels. In 1988, he graduated from the University of Kent with a degree in Drama & Theatre Studies. The university later gave him an honorary doctorate in 2003.

In 2016, he began studying for a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, which he finished in 2018.

Comedy Career

Stand-up Comedy Shows

Alan Davies started performing comedy in 1988. By 1991, Time Out magazine named him the Best Young Comic. He continued to perform his comedy shows in the UK and Australia. In 1994, he won the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy. His show from that year was released on video and audio as Alan Davies Live at the Lyric.

In 1998, a version of his show Urban Trauma was shown on BBC One. This show had been performed in London's West End and toured around the UK and Australia.

In 2012, Davies planned a new tour called Life is Pain. He found the title funny after hearing a six-year-old girl say it. This tour was later broadcast on the TV channel Dave.

Radio and Television Roles

Davies hosted a show called Alan's Big One on Radio 1 in 1994 and 1995. He also appeared in Channel 4's travel show One for the Road.

From 1997 to 2016, he starred as the main character in Jonathan Creek. In this show, he played a trick-deviser for a magician who also solved crimes. Jonathan Creek won a BAFTA award for Best Drama and made Davies very well-known. The series aired regularly until 2004, with special episodes in 2009, 2010, and 2013.

In 1998, Davies co-wrote and starred in his own radio comedy show, The Alan Davies Show. He also played Russell Boyd in the BBC comedy A Many Splintered Thing.

In 2001, Davies played Robert Gossage in Bob and Rose, a comedy drama. He won the Best Actor award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his performance. He also voiced Jack the dog in the radio comedy About a Dog. In 2003, Davies appeared on Top Gear as a "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car". He drove the car around the track in 1 minute and 54 seconds in wet conditions, and later improved his time to 1 minute and 50.3 seconds in dry conditions.

Davies took on more serious roles in 2004. He starred as Henry Farmer, a lawyer, in the ITV drama The Brief. He also appeared in Agatha Christie's Marple (2008), The Good Housekeeping Guide (2006), Roman Road (2004), and Hotel Babylon (2008).

In 2002, he supported John Lennon as the greatest Briton of all time on the BBC's Great Britons series. In 2009, Davies appeared in the BBC science show Horizon, where he explored mathematical ideas. He appeared on Horizon again later that year.

In 2010, Davies was in an episode of the ITV detective series Lewis. He also started a three-part documentary series called Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution on Channel 4. This series was partly based on his book about his teenage years.

In September 2010, a BBC comedy series called Whites premiered, starring Davies as a chef. The show was cancelled after its first series.

In 2011, Davies was a guest on the Australian TV show A Quiet Word With .... He was also a judge on the ITV show Show Me The Funny, a talent contest for new comedians.

In 2012, Davies appeared on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz series for the first time. He won The Big Fat Quiz of the '90s with fellow comedian Phill Jupitus.

In 2014, Davies presented Alan Davies Après-Ski on BBC Two, which looked at highlights from the Winter Olympic Games. He also co-hosted a podcast called Brazilian Banter for ITV, which was a funny look at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Since 2014, he has presented The Dog Rescuers for Channel 5 and the chat show Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled for Dave.

In 2021, Davies took part in the twelfth series of Taskmaster, a popular comedy game show. He finished in joint third place.

QI

Alan Davies is the only permanent panelist on the BBC Two comedy quiz show QI. The show was hosted by Stephen Fry from 2003 to 2016, and then by Sandi Toksvig. Davies has been in almost every episode of the show. In one episode, he only appeared for a short time because he was at a football match in Paris. His chair was empty for the rest of that episode! He also didn't appear in a special Comic Relief episode in 2011.

During the filming of a QI Christmas episode in 2020, Davies set a new Guinness World Record. He pulled the most Christmas crackers in 30 seconds, achieving 35 successful cracks. This record was later broken in 2021.

Books Written by Alan Davies

Davies's first book, My Favourite People and Me, 1978–88, was published in 2009. It is an autobiography, meaning he wrote about his own life. In the book, Davies wanted to remember what he liked as a boy and why. He mentions people like Anton Chekhov and John McEnroe. The book also talks about Arsenal F.C., the football team Davies supports. He remembers his mother sewing their club badge onto his shirt, just a year before she passed away. The paperback version of the book was called Rebel Without A Clue: How the 80s Made Me.

His second autobiography, Just Ignore Him, was published in 2020.

Personal Life

Alan Davies married Katie Maskell, a writer, on 13 January 2007. They had been engaged for six months. They first met backstage at QI in 2005. His friend and fellow comedian Bill Bailey was his best man. Alan and Katie have three children together.

Davies is a pescatarian, which means he eats fish but not other meat. He also narrated a video for Animal Aid in 2006, which was against testing on animals.

Davies is a huge fan of Arsenal F.C. and has been a season ticket holder for many years. He used to host a podcast called "It's Up For Grabs Now" about the club. In 2011, he started hosting a new Arsenal Podcast called "The Tuesday Club". His support for Arsenal is often used as a joke on QI.

He supports the Labour Party. He has said that social injustice is important to him and that life should be about working together.

Film and TV Appearances

Television

Film

Stand-up VHS and DVDs

• Live at the Lyric (1994)
• Urban Trauma (1998)
• Life is Pain: Live in London (2013)
• Little Victories (2016)

See Also

• QI
• Jonathan Creek