My uncle, Phil Davis, would have been 88 today. Most people won’t have heard of him, but he was a backbone of great Australian journalism since the 1960s. He was a leading crime reporter in Sydney, breaking the Chandler case, among others. He created the role of Press Secretary in Canberra in 1968, believing the public needed to be better informed by government. He teamed with Mike Willesee as his Executive Producer from 1973 and was behind Willessee winning many current affairs awards, until Mike went to the 9 network in 1981. Phil then created Terry Willesee at 7, which then became TWT, also under Phil’s direction. Phil was Head of News and Current Affairs at 7, during which time he created female anchors on commercial TV and the male and female news anchor format. He created Newsnight, with Clive Robertson as presenter.

Phil left 7 and “all of it” in August, 1988, due to enmity with Skase, after Skase acquired 7 from Fairfax.