Background
Davies was born in the coalmining village of Blaenclydach, near Tonypandy, to parents who operated a grocery store and were careful to educate all their six children to keep them from having to be employed in the coal mines.
Davies was born in the coalmining village of Blaenclydach, near Tonypandy, to parents who operated a grocery store and were careful to educate all their six children to keep them from having to be employed in the coal mines.
Like his more famous brother Rhys, he was a homosexual and for that reason decided against a career in the Anglican priesthood. He studied at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, trained as a librarian and, in 1937, secured a position at the Daily Mirror which he held for ten years. He then went to Odhams Press and was promoted to chief librarian in 1952—a position he held until his retirement from the succeeding company IPC Books in 1978.