Background
Davies was born in the Rhondda, Wales, and studied at both University College, Cardiff, and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Davies was born in the Rhondda, Wales, and studied at both University College, Cardiff, and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Davies was born in the Rhondda, Wales, and studied at both University College, Cardiff, and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He wrote a number of books on Welsh history. Davies was married with four children. After teaching Welsh history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he retired to Cardiff, and appeared frequently as a presenter and contributor to history programmes on television and radio.
In the mid-1980s, Davies was commissioned to write a concise history of Wales by Penguin Books to add to its Pelican series of the histories of nations.
The decision by Penguin to commission the volume in Welsh was "unexpected and highly commendable," wrote Davies. "I seized the opportunity to write of Wales and the Welsh.
The original voluminous typescript was first published in hardback under the Allen Lane imprint. Davies took a sabbatical from his post at the University College of Wales and wrote most of the chapters while touring Europe.
Hanes Cymru was translated into English and published in 1993, as there was "a demand among English-speakers to read what was already available to Welsh-speakers," wrote Davies.
A revised edition was published (in both languages) in 2007
Davies lived in Grangetown, Cardiff. To mark his 75th birthday in 2013, the Welsh language television channel S4C broadcast a programme, Gwirionedd y Galon: Doctor John Davies, about his life and his home and in 2014 published his autobiography in Welsh.