1. John Andrew Davey, known as Jack Davey, was a New Zealand-born singer and pioneering star of Australian radio as a performer, producer, writer and host from the early 1930s into the late 1950s.
19 Facts About Jack Davey
1. 2.
Jack Davey was born John Andrew Davey in Auckland on 8 February 1907 and educated at King's College.
3.
Jack Davey's father, despairing of his son's future, took him to sea, in an attempt to establish a career for his son as a mariner.
4.
Jack Davey worked as a crooner on the ABC station 2BL, but his real career began when he was hired by Sydney commercial radio station 2GB.
5.
Jack Davey married Dulcie May Mary Webb on 17 July 1936 in Sydney, but divorced in 1942.
6.
Jack Davey soon had his own breakfast show, a daytime quiz, an evening variety programme and voiceover work for Fox Movietone newsreels.
7.
Jack Davey was a notorious gambler, and those close to him say he often spent money more quickly than he could earn it.
8.
Jack Davey and American-born radio personality and quiz-show host Bob Dyer maintained a well-publicised rivalry.
9.
However Jack Davey's popularity was such that listeners in Melbourne demanded to see the programs done "live".
10.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the success of his programs, Jack Davey decided to leave the production unit, believing he would be able to earn more money elsewhere.
11.
Jack Davey joined the American Red Cross, as a field entertainer with the rank of captain, taking shows to troops across Australia and the islands of the Pacific.
12.
Jack Davey remained there until his contract expired and then he returned to Macquarie in 1950.
13.
Jack Davey continued his radio work, producing multiple weekly quiz shows, talent quests and other entertainment programs.
14.
In 1955 one of Jack Davey's contestants was sixteen-year-old John Howard, who was to become Prime Minister of Australia.
15.
Jack Davey had had a love affair with cars for most of his life, and when the first Redex Reliability Trial was announced, he was one of the first to enter.
16.
Jack Davey's doctors succeeded in banning him from the 1955 Redex trial, though he did later take part in the Ampol round-Australia reliability trial in 1956, again driving a Ford Customline, and the 1957 and 1958 Ampol trials, driving Chryslers.
17.
In mid-1959, X-rays revealed a small cancer in his right lung, but Jack Davey went on with his work, including a trip to the United States to look at advances in television.
18.
Jack Davey died at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst on 14 October 1959, the same day as another larger-than-life Australian character, Errol Flynn.
19.
Jack Davey's cremation was followed by a service at St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral.