Evan Harold Davis (born 8 April 1962) is an English economist, journalist, and presenter for the BBC. He has presented ''Dragons' Den'' since 2005. In October 2001, Davis took over from Peter Jay as the BBC's economics editor. He left this post in April 2008 to become a presenter on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme. In September 2014, he left ''Today'' to be the main presenter of ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

'' for four years. On 5 November 2018, Davis began presenting Radio 4's '' PM'' programme.

Early life

Davis was born in Malvern,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, to South African parents, Quintin Visser Davis and Hazel Noreen Davis. He grew up in

Ashtead Ashtead is a large village in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, approximately south of central London. Primarily a commuter settlement, Ashtead is on the single-carriageway A24 between Epsom and Leatherhead. The village is on ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. He attended Dorking County Grammar School, which in 1976 became The Ashcombe School,

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughl ...

. Davis then gained a First in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...

, which he attended from 1981 to 1984, before obtaining a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, publi ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. While at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, he edited '' Cherwell'', the student newspaper.

Early career

Davis began work as an economist at the

Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom, which specialises in UK taxation and public policy. It produces both academic and policy-related findings. The institute's aim is to "ad ...

, and while there he was briefly seconded to help officials work on early development of the

Community Charge The Community Charge, commonly known as the poll tax, was a system of taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government in replacement of domestic rates in Scotland from 1989, prior to its introduction in England and Wales from 1990. It pr ...

system of local government taxation (better known as the Poll Tax). In 1988 he moved to the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

, writing articles for their publication ''Business Strategy Review''. He returned to the Institute for Fiscal Studies in 1992, writing a paper on "Britain, Europe and the Square Mile" for the European Policy Forum which argued that British financial prosperity depended on being seen as a bridgehead to the European Union. In 1993, Davis joined the BBC as an economics correspondent. He worked as economics editor on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

's ''

'' programme from 1997 to 2001. In the mid-1990s he was a member of the

Social Market Foundation The Social Market Foundation (SMF) is an independent British political public policy think-tank based in Westminster, London. It is one of the 'Top 12 Think Tanks in Britain' and was named 'UK Think Tank of the Year' by Prospect in 2012. Its purp ...

's Advisory Council; he is a member of the

British-American Project for a Successor Generation The British-American Project (BAP) is a transatlantic fellowship of more than 1,200 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its member ...

BBC

Economics editor

As 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 Road pricing (also road user charges) are direct charges levied for the use of roads, including road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sour ...

, care for the elderly,

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...

Budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...

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. In 2008, Davis was ranked first in the ''

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

''s "pink list" of the hundred most influential gay and lesbian figures in British society. On 23 May 2005, Davis crossed picket lines during a day of industrial action by BBC staff over announced job cuts. Other notable broadcasters who turned up for work during the strike included

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

, Shelagh Fogarty and

Declan Curry Declan Gerald Curry (born 5 September 1971) is a Northern Irish freelance journalist, news presenter and businessman, best known as the former business correspondent for ''BBC Breakfast''. Early life Curry was born and raised in Strabane, County ...

. Davis was also noted for breaking a strike at the BBC, which had been called by the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There is ...

: on 6 November 2010, he arrived to present the ''Today Programme'' at 3:30am, along with fellow presenter

Sarah Montague Sarah Anne Louise Montague, Lady Brooke (born 8 February 1966),''Who's who'' is a British journalist and presenter of the BBC Radio 4 current affairs programme ''The World at One''. For 18 years, prior to April 2018, she was a regular presenter ...

, although this was not technically crossing a picket line as they arrived before it was formed.

''Today'' programme

In mid-2007, Davis was a guest presenter on the ''Today'' programme for two weeks. In April 2008, he stood down as BBC Economics Editor to join the ''Today'' programme as a full-time presenter replacing

Carolyn Quinn Carolyn Quinn (born 22 July 1961 in Camberwell, London) is a British journalist best known for her work on BBC Radio 4 as a political correspondent and for presenting the '' Today'' programme and '' PM''. Early life Quinn attended St Joseph's R ...

. In 2009, Davis said that one of the best things about presenting on the radio is that "you can look things up on Wikipedia while on air".

''The Bottom Line'' programme

On top of his duties at ''Today'', Davis also presents ''The Bottom Line''. It is a weekly business discussion programme which generally includes three or four business leaders or entrepreneurs responding to several topical questions regarding business-related issues. First aired in 2006, the programme is a co-production between

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

and

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study o ...

. As of September 2013, ''The Bottom Line'' runs 26 weeks of the year in three series: at 8:30 pm on Thursdays on

, with a repeat showing at 5:30 pm on Saturdays and a television recording at 9:30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays on the

BBC News Channel BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

. The programme is broadcast internationally on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

and

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media an ...

. Additionally, Davis presents ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

'' on BBC Two. In 2012, Davis presented ''Built in Britain'' which looked at the role of major infrastructure projects in the UK, including examining the impact of the M25 on the town of

in Surrey where he grew up. In 2014, Davis presented a

series '' Mind the Gap: London vs the Rest'' in which he explored the economic forces in Britain and why the capital city is so dominant.

''Newsnight''

On 21 July 2014, it was announced that Davis would replace

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate new ...

as presenter of ''

'' starting in autumn 2014. His last appearance as a presenter on ''Today'' was 26 September 2014. In 2017 Davis was found to have breached BBC rules on due impartiality in coverage of the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of La République En Marche!, En Ma ...

on ''Newsnight'', giving the impression that he favoured

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

over

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its ...

. The BBC Executive Complaints Unit ruled that Davis' approaches in back-to-back interviews with representatives of the Macron and le Pen campaigns was so marked as to constitute bias. After four years with ''Newsnight'', it was announced that Davis would move on to become the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 ''PM'' programme. His final show was broadcast on 30 October 2018. Evan Davis did read the news.

''PM'' programme

Davis began presenting Radio 4's '' PM'' on 5 November 2018.

Writing

Davis' first book, ''Public Spending'', was published in 1998. In it he argued for the

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

public services A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

as a means of increasing efficiency. Davis' second book, ''Made in Britain: How the Nation Earns Its Living'', was published in May 2011. His third book, ''Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do About It'' was published in May 2017.

Personal life

Davis lives in London with his partner Guillaume Baltz, a French

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

. He is the owner of a

whippet The Whippet is a dog breed of medium size. It is a sighthound breed that originated in England, descended from the Greyhound. Whippets today still strongly resemble a smaller Greyhound. Part of the hound group, Whippets have relatively few ...

named Mr. Whippy. Davis is a keen motorcyclist, and was seen riding a Yamaha R6 motorcycle in BBC Two's '' The City Uncovered''.

Honours and awards

Davis holds honorary degrees from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

;

City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

;

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

Coventry University , mottoeng = By Art and Industry , established = , type = Public , endowment = £28 million (2015) , budget = £787.5 million , chancellor = Margaret Casely-Hayford , vice_chancellor = John Latham , students = () , undergr ...

and

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first ...

Publications

* * *

References

External links

*
BBC Newswatch profile

Evanomics
– Davis's BBC blog (no longer updated) *

6 November 2005
''The Bottom Line'' Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Evan 1962 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 4 presenters British business and financial journalists English economists English reporters and correspondents British gay writers Harvard Kennedy School alumni British LGBT broadcasters British LGBT journalists British LGBT scientists English LGBT writers People from Malvern, Worcestershire People from Dorking English people of South African descent People educated at The Ashcombe School People educated at Dorking Grammar School Gay scientists