Evan Davis (journalist)

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For other persons of the same name, see Evan Davis.
Evan Davis in 2007.
Evan Davis in 2007.

Evan Harold Davis (born April 8, 1962 in Ashtead, Surrey) is a British economist and journalist; he has been the BBC's economics editor since October 2001, replacing Peter Jay. Currently he is on sabbatical from this post and is a presenter on BBC Radio Four's Today programme.

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[edit] Background

Davis attended Dorking County Grammar School, which in 1976 became The Ashcombe School, Dorking, and later studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St John's College, Oxford from 1981 to 1984, before obtaining an MPA at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. While at Oxford University, Davis edited Cherwell, the student newspaper.

Before joining the BBC as an economics correspondent in 1993, he worked as an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1986 to 1988 and again from 1992 to 1993. Between 1988 and 1992 he worked at the London Business School. He worked as economics editor on BBC Two's Newsnight programme from 1997 to 2001.

[edit] Writing

In 1998, Davis released a book, Public Spending, published by Penguin. In it he argued for the privatisation of public services as a means to increase efficiency.

[edit] BBC work

While the BBC's economics editor, Davis was responsible for reporting and analysing economic developments on a range of programmes on BBC radio and television, particularly the Ten O'Clock News. He also had a role in shaping the extensive BBC coverage of economics across all the corporation's outputs, including online.

Davis also wrote a blog for the BBC website entitled Evanomics in which he "attempts to understand the real world, using the tool kit of economics". Subjects he discussed included road pricing, care for the elderly, Gordon Brown's Budget and how to choose wine.

Davis has won several awards including the Work Foundation's Broadcast Journalist of the Year award in 1998, 2001 and 2003, and the Harold Wincott Business Broadcaster of the Year award in 2002. He has made several appearances on the quiz show, Have I Got News For You, and presents Dragons' Den on BBC 2.

In 2005, he was one of a handful of BBC personalities who broke strike picket lines. BBC staff were striking over announced job cuts[1].

In summer 2007, Davis was a guest presenter on the Today Programme for two weeks. In April 2008 he stood down as BBC Economics Editor for 12 months and joined the Today Programme as a full-time presenter, replacing Carolyn Quinn.[2] [3]

[edit] Personal life

Openly gay, Davis lives with Guillaume Baltz, a French landscape architect.[4] He is noted for conducting congenial interviews with contestants both successful and unsuccessful following their intense session with the dragons. Because of this and his round almost cartoon-like features he was described by Charlie Brooker as "the world's biggest Teddy Bear". As well as being openly gay, he has his nipple pierced and it is rumoured that he has a prince albert piercing[5].

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ TV stars: why we crossed BBC picket line. The Guardian (May 23, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
  2. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Dragons' Davis joins Today team
  3. ^ BBC economics editor Evan Davis joins Today programme as presenter | Media | guardian.co.uk
  4. ^ Carole Cadwalladr. "'Think of me as a man of mystery'". The Observer. 6 November 2005.
  5. ^ Evan Davis: 'Think of me as a man of mystery' | Media | The Observer

[edit] External links