David Ivor Davies was born at Cardiff in 1893.
His early natural aptitude for writing attractive melodies was developed during a childhood at the centre of Cardiff’s musical world.
Clara Butt taught him to sing "Abide with Me" when he was a boy of six.
His talent was given more shape and discipline by several years as a scholar at Magdalen College Choir School, Oxford.
As he reached maturty he adopted from his mother "Novello" as his professional surname.
In 1914 he wrote Keep the home fires burning, which became an anthem of World War I, bringing him wealth and fame at the age of 21.
During the war he wrote West End musical revues.
In 1916 he reported to a Royal Naval Air Service training depot as a probationary flight sub-lieutenant, but after he twice crashed aeroplanes, he was moved to the Admiralty office in central London.
Afterwards he concentrated on acting, spending the 1920s and early 30s as a silent film star and as a popular matinée idol on stage, usually in plays he had written himself.
In 1935 he returned to composition with Glamorous Night, the first of a series of enormously popular musicals with which he was to save the fortunes of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He dominated the British musical theatre from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.
His early natural aptitude for writing attractive melodies was developed during a childhood at the centre of Cardiff’s musical world.
Clara Butt taught him to sing "Abide with Me" when he was a boy of six.
His talent was given more shape and discipline by several years as a scholar at Magdalen College Choir School, Oxford.
As he reached maturty he adopted from his mother "Novello" as his professional surname.
In 1914 he wrote Keep the home fires burning, which became an anthem of World War I, bringing him wealth and fame at the age of 21.
During the war he wrote West End musical revues.
In 1916 he reported to a Royal Naval Air Service training depot as a probationary flight sub-lieutenant, but after he twice crashed aeroplanes, he was moved to the Admiralty office in central London.
Afterwards he concentrated on acting, spending the 1920s and early 30s as a silent film star and as a popular matinée idol on stage, usually in plays he had written himself.
In 1935 he returned to composition with Glamorous Night, the first of a series of enormously popular musicals with which he was to save the fortunes of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He dominated the British musical theatre from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.
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