Russell Davies

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This article refers to the Radio 2 presenter and journalist. For the television scriptwriter see Russell T. Davies

For English musician Russell Davies publishing music under the name Abakus see Abakus

Russell Davies was born in Barmouth, North Wales and currently presents a Sunday radio programme on BBC Radio 2 which spotlights popular song. He was awarded a first class degree at St John's College, Cambridge but soon abandoned his post-graduate studies in German literature when the opportunity arose to tour with the Cambridge Footlights revue.

As a journalist, Davies worked as a film and television critic for The Observer and The Sunday Times, features writer and sports columnist for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, a caricaturist for The Times Literary Supplement and was a deputy editor of Punch. He edited Kenneth Williams's diaries for publication, despite being the target of Williams's acid pen in those same diaries. He regularly appeared on television in the 1980s, presenting Saturday Review for BBC2.

Davies is jazz musician, playing the trombone, and has presented television and radio documentaries on the subject, including a year-long history for BBC Radio 3. He has written and presented other radio programmes including BBC Radio 4's series Word Of Mouth (winner of the 1996 European Radio, ONDAS prize), and a series on Radio 2 about songwriters Rodgers and Hart, Legends of Light Music. In 2003, Russell Davies wrote and presented Quest For Perfection, a film about jazz clarinettist and bandleader Artie Shaw, for BBC 4 and produced by John Warburton (shortlisted for the 2004 Grierson Award). To date (July 2005), his film has been broadcast nine times.