Ivor Davis shared his remarkable career.
On March 23, the Ventura Breeze presented Ivor Davis at Portside Ventura Harbor where he introduced his latest book 60th anniversary Beatles and Me On Tour. Breeze publisher Sheldon was the moderator for the event.
Ivor, who has lived in Ventura for the past 44 years entertained the approximately 50 in attendance sharing his remarkable career and wit. An entertaining Q&A followed his presentation.
Over more than half a century as a writer for the London Daily Express and the Times of London, British born Ivor covered major stories in North America. He penned a weekly entertainment column for the New York Times Syndicate for over 15 years, interviewing some of the biggest names in show business, from Cary Grant to Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton to Tom Cruise and Muhammad Ali.
In 1962 he was smuggled onto the campus of the riot-torn University of Mississippi when James Meredith became the first black student ever to be enrolled Three years later Davis was in the front lines as Los Angeles’ Watts riots erupted.
In l964, Davis was the only British daily newspaper correspondent to cover The Beatles’ first American tour from start to finish, given unparalleled access to John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Davis covered Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential bid and was in the kitchen in the Ambassador Hotel the night Senator Kennedy was assassinated. He was one of the Boys on the Bus chronicling the life of actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan, first in his campaign for governor of California, then for president. He always seemed to be at the right place at the right time.
He was a co-author of the 1969 political book Divided They Stand, which chronicled the Presidential election; and witnessed some of the biggest trials in American history: and, in 1976, he was in San Francisco to see heiress Patty Hearst convicted of robbery after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Over more than half a century as a writer for the London Daily Express and the Times of London, Ivor covered major events in North America. He penned a weekly entertainment column for the New York Times Syndicate for over 15 years.
Ivor’s first-hand, insider’s memoir, the award winning The Beatles and Me On Tour: 60th Anniversary Edition is a fascinating travel back in time where for the first time he chronicles, frankly and humorously, 34 days with the world’s most famous band on the road—at a critical moment in the history of rock and roll. His new book contains photographs from some of the world’s pre-eminent Beatle photographers–as well a wealth of fascinating new details about the Fab Four.
His new true crime book, “The Devil in My Friend: The Inside Story of a Malibu Murder.” It is an account of the famous Eighties trial of Malibu engineer Frederick George Roehler, who was convicted of the murder of his wife and young stepson after an almost year-long trial in the Santa Barbara Courthouse in May l982. The killings took place close by—at Santa Cruz Island. The book will be published on May 7th.
