By PAUL HARRIS

THE DEATH of Ivor Davis, pictured, has brought back memories of Daily Express photographers, journalists, and editors who changed my life. It all started during the Rhodesian Bush War in 1977.

First on my list is the legendary Terry Fincher, one of the premier photojournalists in the world during his tenure at the Daily Express. He had left the Express in 1970 to found Photographers International, seeking more control over his copyrights. By 1977, he was in Rhodesia covering the war. At the time, I was the acting chief photographer for The Rhodesia Herald. While the publication offered my photos globally—often used as propaganda by the Rhodesian government—some of my images caused them significant trouble.

The government placed me under house arrest and issued a deportation notice under the Official Secrets Act. I was set to be deported in March 1977 and was already looking for the next war zone when Terry Fincher confronted me at the Quill Club. He told me, 'Hey mate, don’t ruin your life by going to another war. Go to Hollywood.'

I took his advice. Terry organised an assignment for me with The Sun to cover Prince Charles at the Calgary Stampede. I shared a hotel room with Daily Express photographer Steve Wood, and once that job ended, I headed for Los Angeles.

A few weeks after arriving in Hollywood, I met Ivor Davis at an event with Lillian Carter, President Carter’s mother. Ivor was an unqualified success at the Daily Express, serving as one of the most vital links between Fleet Street and the American cultural explosion of the 1960s and 70s. He invited me to dinner to meet his family, and a lifelong connection began.

By late 1979, I left Photographers International. Fleet Street papers were asking me to work directly for them on assignment at $300 a day plus expenses—an offer too good to turn down. Brian Vine, from the Daily Express New York office, began sending me on jobs, and soon Ross Benson arrived in California. He was a colourful character; together we covered the Shah of Iran in Mexico, brothels in Nevada, and John Travolta getting his star on Hollywood Boulevard.

Ivor Davis never disappeared from the scene. In 1980, I remember him lying on the floor of Muhammad Ali’s Hancock Park home taking notes while I photographed Ali.

Every year, I returned to the Daily Express office in London to catch up with the photo desk—Chris Djukanovic, Terry Evans, Mick Lidbury and others. In America, I truly found the American Dream. I founded the digital agency Online USA in 1994, selling it to Getty Images in 1999 as the cornerstone of their entertainment division. In 2002, I teamed up with former Daily Mail assistant picture editor Steve Walker to form BWP Media, which became Pacific Coast News in 2004.

Throughout those years, I worked on many assignments with Ivor. Even after I retired in 2016, my work for him continued as he wrote his books. He always needed photos copied, resized, and prepared for printing. Up until his last book, The Devil in My Friend, I was helping him copy and format pictures he had taken of the man who was 'The Devil' so they could be included in the final publication.

Ivor died in 2026. He was a great friend and a vital link to a golden age of journalism.”

10 April 2026

1979 Ross Benson and Paul Harris outside a saloon in Pahrump, Nevada whilst doing a story on legal brothels in Nevada

That’s Ross Benson directly above John Travolta’s finger at the very back, in Hollywood, June 2nd, 1980. Travolta was getting  a Hollywood Star, footprints and hand prints in concrete outside Manns Chinese Theatre.  ©Paul Harris Photography

1996: Ross Benson with Magic Johnson of the LA Lakers.
Photo © Paul Harris Photography

1984 Former Daily Express Photographer Terry Fincher with his wife June and two of his children Lucy and Sally at Chilworth, Surrey, photo © Paul Harris Photography 

1984 Los Angeles, Ivor Davis drives a robot in his car

1986: Phil Elwell owner of The Kings Head in Santa Monica, Eddie Sanderson worked for many English tabloids and magazines, Ian Brodie, Scottish Daily Express and bureau chief in America of Daily Telegraph, Ivor Davis, John Hiscock, The Sun and Daily Telegraph, Douglas Thompson Daily Mail, Ron Clark, Reuters, Terry Willows, News of The World and Paul Harris