David Parry-Jones

David Parry-Jones (25 September 1933 – 10 April 2017) was a Welsh sports commentator, TV current affairs presenter and writer. He presented BBC Wales Today for many years and was a rugby analyst for BBC Radio 5. He was the author of books on the sport of rugby; including several on the history of rugby in Wales.[1]

Life and career

Parry-Jones was born in Pontypridd on 25 September, 1933.[2] In 1952, after attending school in Cardiff, he went up to Merton College, Oxford, where he read Classics and captained the Greyhounds rugby union and Authentics and college cricket teams.[2] After completing his national service, in 1959 he took up journalism[2] and went on to become one of the BBC's best-known rugby commentators, most notably for his description of Llanelli’s famous win over the All Blacks in 1972.[3] He was more familiar to television viewers as a regular presenter of the nightly regional news programme Wales Today, which he hosted during the 1960s and 1970s.

Parry-Jones was the long-term partner of the broadcaster Beti George and lived in Cardiff. From 2009 he suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and Beti George raised awareness of the condition through the Welsh media. In 2013 S4C showed a programme about the disease, Un o Bob Tri ("One in Every Three"),[4] and Beti George presented a programme, The Dreaded Disease - David's Story, on BBC Radio Wales.[5] In February 2017, BBC One Wales produced a documentary, Beti and David: Lost for Words, that followed the couple over a number of months, and looked at the challenges and frustrations faced by carers in Wales.[3][6]

Parry-Jones died on 10 April 2017, at a hospice in Penarth.[7]

Selected works
  • The Dawes Decades: John Dawes and the Third Golden Era of Welsh Rugby (2006)
  • The Gwilliam Seasons: John Gwilliam and the Second Golden Era of Welsh Rugby (2003)
  • Prince Gwyn: Gwyn Nicholls and the First Golden Era of Welsh Rugby (1999)
  • Action Replay – A Media Memoir (1993)
  • The Rugby Clubs of Wales (1989)
  • Rugby Remembered: From the Pages of the Illustrated London News (1988)
  • Out of the Ruck (1986)
  • Boots, Balls and Banter: Collection of Rugby Stories (1980)

References
  1. Hands, David (18 January 2003). "Gwilliam's legacy to Welsh rugby underplayed again". The Times.
  2. Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 437.
  3. Rees, Jasper (9 March 2017). "Beti and David: Lost for Words: the more people that watch this film the better – review". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  4. S4C (11 December 2013). "Un o Bob Tri - Beti George". S4C (in Welsh). Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  5. BBC (11 December 2013). "The Dreaded Disease - David's Story". BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  6. "Beti and David: Lost for Words". BBC iPlayer. BBC. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  7. "Veteran BBC broadcaster David Parry-Jones dies aged 83", BBC News, 10 April 2017
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