‘We’ve just had some news. My father has died’
BBC broadcaster Evan Davis has shared details of the harrowing moment he was told his father had killed himself on his wedding day.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, he revealed he found out that his seriously ill father had passed through a phone call – but decided to carry on with the celebrations regardless.
He told his guests: “We’ve just had some news. My father died. But I don’t want you to be alarmed.
“He was very elderly and it was definitely time.
“There’s actually nothing we can do. So I’m going to propose that we carry on.”
Quintin, 92, had left a note saying his “system is closing down” and he had “no alternative” but to take his own life.
A message from Davis’s brother Roland urged him to “call ASAP”.
He then revealed the tragic news over the telephone.
Davis, 61, who has fronted shows including TV’s Dragons’ Den and BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, and BBC Radio 4 programme Today programme recalled that his father had made a “proud and loving” speech when he entered a civil partnership ceremony in 2012.
Their wedding in London was a follow-up to that ceremony involving a first number of guests who were not at the first celebration.
Davis told journalist Decca Aitkenhead, whom he spoke to with his family’s agreement, that he “burst into tears” when he was back at work the next day and colleagues asked about the wedding.
Stating that family do not know why his father picked that day to die, Davis added: “We’ve all speculated on what the hell was going on in his head… there’s no good day, is there?
“And I know he didn’t do it to spoil our day.”
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