Ian McNaught-Davis

Ian McNaught-Davis (30 August 1929 – 10 February 2014) was a British television presenter best known for presenting the BBC television series The Computer Programme, Making the Most of the Micro and Micro Live in the 1980s. He was also a mountaineer and alpinist. He was managing director of the British subsidiary of Comshare.

Early life and career The son of Stanley McNaught-Davis, a former RAF pilot, he was educated at Rothwell Grammar School in Lofthouse, West Yorkshire followed by national service in the Royal Air Force where his poor eyesight thwarted his ambitions to become a pilot. He achieved a first in Mathematics at the University of Manchester, where he also became an active mountaineer.

In the 1960s, he was a climbing partner of Joe Brown. He took part with Brown in the televised climb of the Old Man of Hoy. He also took part in a climb of the Eiffel Tower, which was televised on the ABC network's Wide World of Sports.

McNaught-Davis made his television debut in 1965 as one of the presenters of a BBC TV mountaineering programme Men Against the Matterhorn, with David Dimbleby and Christopher Brasher.

Computing and TV presentation In the 1970s, he changed career, becoming active in information technology, and joined Comshare, where he remained until retirement in 1995. Comshare specialised in software development and resale of redundant operational time on mainframe computer systems. He rose to become chief executive of the European division, and managing director of the British subsidiary.

He presented another BBC series The Computer Programme, Making the Most of the Micro and Micro Live in the 1980s.

In 2008 he was a speaker (along with Dave Allen and George Auckland) at an event entitled The BBC Micro and its legacy hosted by the Computer Conservation Society.

Honours McNaught-Davis was the first non-Swiss holder of the post president of the UIAA (International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation) between the years of 1995 and 2004.

In 2012 he was a patron of the British Mountaineering Council.

Private life He married twice, having two sons, John and Simon, from his first marriage to Mary, and a daughter, Elvira Hurrell, from his second marriage to Loreto Herman.