 Educated at Bishop Gore Grammar School, Swansea and Cardiff High School for Boys, Davies went on to read Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford, graduating in 1966.In 1967 he married Elizabeth Siân Vaughan Yorath, with whom he has three sons, including Rhodri Talfan Davies who is now Director of BBC Cymru Wales.Davies' career began in 1966 as a graduate trainee with the "Western Mail" newspaper in Cardiff, where he became its first Welsh Affairs Correspondent.