Wyre Davies is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

correspondent for

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 broadca ...

. He speaks fluent

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Background

His maternal grandfather, Captain Evan Rowlands of

Llanon Llanon (also spelled Llan-non) is a village in Ceredigion, Wales. It adjoins the village of Llansantffraed on the coast of Cardigan Bay, north of Aberaeron and south of Aberystwyth on the A487 road. It is situated on a raised beach. The villag ...

, was captain of , which whilst making passage between Brazil and the West Coast of Canada, on 22 May 1938 whilst under the control of a local

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

ran aground on Zealous Island,

Messier Channel Messier Channel is a channel located in Patagonia, Chile. It trends north–south between Wellington Island and other Pacific islands and the continent, and is bounded on the north by the Gulf of Penas. Southward the name of this inside passa ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Subsequently abandoned by her crew, salvage efforts were also abandoned on 6 June. Later he was captain of , which during the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

was torpedoed and sunk west of the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

() by with the loss of eight of her 38 crew. Survivors including Captain Rowlands were rescued by a

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...

aircraft of 10 Squadron,

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. Rowlands later retired to

Llanrhystud Llanrhystud is a seaside village and electoral division on the A487 road in the county of Ceredigion, in Wales, 9 miles (14 km) south of Aberystwyth, and 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberaeron. It takes its name from an early Welsh saint. Th ...

, where Davies was born.

Career

After studying

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

at university, he joined

where he became a foreign correspondent in Latin America. In 2000 he transferred to a job as correspondent at

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

, reporting on stories across

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and appearing on

Wales Today ''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television new ...

together with the BBC's

Six 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

and Ten o'clock news. He also reported on sports stories. In 2005, he was asked to fill in for

Katya Adler Michal Katya Adler (born 3 May 1972) is a British journalist. She has been the BBC's Europe editor since 2014. Early life Adler was born on 3 May 1972 in Hampstead, north London, to German parents. She attended the independent, fee-paying Sou ...

for six months while she took

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and ...

. He has since undertaken occasional assignments to both

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and in April 2010 was appointed permanent

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

correspondent, under fellow Welshman, BBC Middle East editor

Jeremy Bowen Jeremy Francis John Bowen (born 6 February 1960) is a Welsh journalist and television presenter. He was the BBC's Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1995 and 2000 and the BBC Middle East editor from 2005 to 2022, before being ...

. He covered the

2011 Egyptian protests The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

from within

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English language, English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political dem ...

. Since mid-2013, Davies is based in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

with his family, and is the BBC's South American correspondent.

Personal life

Davies is married, with three daughters and one Son. His close friends include BBC correspondent

Alan Johnston Alan Graham Johnston (born 17 May 1962) is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Italy. He is based in London. Johnston was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip on 1 ...

, who was kidnapped in Gaza in 2007.

References

External links

*
''Radio Wales Drive with Wyre Davies''
(BBC Radio Wales)
Wyre Davies @ journalisted
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Welsh-language television presenters Welsh journalists BBC Cymru Wales newsreaders and journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists British expatriates in Israel British expatriates in Brazil {{Wales-bio-stub