Welsh journalist and broadcaster
Geraint Talfan Davies
OBE
DL
FRIBA
FLSW
(born 30 December 1943) is a Welsh journalist and broadcaster, and a long-serving trustee and chairman of many Welsh civic, arts, media and cultural organisations.
Personal life and education
[
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]
Geraint Talfan Davies was born on 30 December 1943, the second of three children of
Aneirin Talfan Davies
(1909?1980), a Welsh
broadcaster
,
literary critic
and poet, and his wife Mary Anne
nee
Evans (1912?1971), a teacher.
[1]
[2]
Educated at
Bishop Gore Grammar School, Swansea
and Cardiff High School for Boys, Davies went on to read modern history at
Jesus College, Oxford
, graduating in 1966.
In 1967, he married Elizabeth Sian Vaughan Yorath, with whom he has three sons,
[1]
including
Rhodri Talfan Davies
, who became the director of BBC Cymru Wales.
Career
[
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]
Davies' career began in 1966 as a graduate trainee with the
Western Mail
newspaper in
Cardiff
, where he became its first Welsh Affairs Correspondent. In 1971 he moved to
The Journal
newspaper in
Newcastle upon Tyne
, relocating to
The Times
in
London
in 1973 where he worked for a year, before returning to the Western Mail in 1974 as assistant editor.
In 1978, Davies moved into broadcasting, as the head of news and current affairs with
HTV Wales
, becoming assistant controller of programmes in 1982.
He returned to Newcastle in 1987, as director of programmes for
Tyne Tees Television
. In July 1987 he co-founded the
Institute of Welsh Affairs
with Cardiff lawyer Keith James. 1990 saw his return to Cardiff, at the start of his ten-year stint as controller of
BBC Wales
, a position that included overall responsibility for the
BBC
's television and radio operations in Wales, and the
BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales
. In 1992 he became chairman of the
Institute of Welsh Affairs
, a position he would hold until 2014. Davies retired from the BBC in 2000, at the age of 57.
[3]
He was succeeded by
Menna Richards
. His son,
Rhodri Talfan Davies
, was appointed director of BBC Wales in 2011.
Notable positions
[
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]
Geraint Talfan Davies has been involved with various arts, media and educational organisations, including the
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
, the
Wales International Film Festival
, the
Artes Mundi
visual arts prize,
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
, the
Wales Millennium Centre
and
Welsh National Opera
.
He chaired Welsh National Opera (WNO) for three years, before his appointment in 2003 to the chair of the
Arts Council of Wales
(ACW). His tenure at ACW was cut short in 2006 when, following the council's successful resistance to Welsh Government plans to take over responsibility for the main national arts organisations, the Culture Minister, Alun Pugh, did not renew his appointment for a second term.
[4]
He was then re-elected to the chair of WNO.
[5]
He was a trustee of the
Media Standards Trust
(2005?15) and is currently a trustee of the Shakespeare Schools Foundation.
In 2000 he was one of a group that formed Glas Cymru Cyf, with the aim of acquiring
Welsh Water
with a view to turning it into a not-for-profit company. He was a non-executive of Glas Cymru Cyf from 2000 to 2011. He has also been a member of the
BT
Wales Advisory Forum.
He is an Honorary Doctor of the
University of Glamorgan
, and an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University, Bangor University, and of the
Royal Institute of British Architects
.
Davies has previously held numerous other positions:
- Co-founder and chairman,
Institute of Welsh Affairs
, 1992?2014
- Chair, Arts Council of Wales, 2003?2006
- Board Member,
Wales Millennium Centre
, 2000?2003 and 2006?2009
- Board Member,
Artes Mundi
international visual arts prize
- Trustee, Media Standards Trust, 2005?15
- Chair, Newydd Housing Association, now the Cadarn Housing Group
[6]
(1975?1978)
- Chair,
Cardiff Bay Arts Trust
, 1997?2003
[7]
- Chair,
Wales International Film Festival
, 1998?2001
- Chair,
Welsh National Opera
, 2000?2003 and 2006?present
- Governor,
Welsh College of Music and Drama
, 1993?1997
- Member of Management Committee,
Northern Sinfonia
, 1989?1990
- Member,
Prince of Wales Committee for the Welsh Environment
, 1993?1996
[8]
- Member,
Radio Authority
, 2001?2004
- Trustee,
Tenovus Cancer Appeal
, 1984?1987
- Trustee, British Bone Marrow Donor Appeal, 1987?1995
He was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in the
2014 New Year Honours
for services to culture, broadcasting, and charity.
[9]
In 2021, he was elected a
Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales
.
[10]
Publications
[
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]
- Davies, Geraint Talfan (2008).
At arm's length : recollections and reflections on the arts, media and a young democracy
. Bridgend:
Seren Books
.
ISBN
9781854114365
.
- Davies, Geraint Talfan (2018) Unfinished Business: Journal of an Embattled European. Cardigan. Parthian Books.
ISBN
9781912681075
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
[Anon.] (2020).
"Davies, Geraint Talfan"
.
Who's Who
. A & C Black.
doi
:
10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U13016
. Retrieved
12 November
2021
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Llwyd, Alan
.
"Davies, Aneirin Talfan (1909-1980), poet, literary critic, broadcaster and publisher"
.
Dictionary of Welsh Biography
.
National Library of Wales
. Retrieved
12 November
2021
.
- ^
Controller of BBC Wales to retire
, September 1999
- ^
ACW chair "sacked"
? British Theatre Guide, January 2006
- ^
ACW welcomes new Chairman for Welsh National Opera
Archived
2006-09-26 at the
Wayback Machine
, September 2006
- ^
"The Cadarn Housing Group"
. Archived from
the original
on 3 August 2020
. Retrieved
18 July
2018
.
- ^
"Geraint Talfan Davies"
.
Creative Cardiff
. Cardiff University
. Retrieved
18 July
2018
.
- ^
"Geraint Talfan DAVIES"
.
People of Today
.
Debrett's
. Archived from
the original
on 15 March 2016
. Retrieved
22 July
2015
.
- ^
"No. 60728"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 31 December 2013. p. 11.
- ^
Wales, The Learned Society of.
"Geraint Talfan Davies"
.
The Learned Society of Wales
. Retrieved
31 August
2023
.
External links
[
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]