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For over thirty years, Jacquie Davis has survived as one of the top operators in a male-dominated profession тАФ the secretive, often dangerous world of close protection operatives, aka a bodyguard.
In 2019, Netflix released Close, an action thriller whose main character, a bodyguard and counter-terrorism expert played by Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), was inspired by JacquieтАЩs life story.
Jacquie Davis had so many close scrapes with death while risking everything for her clients, she is genuinely surprised to be alive; stabbed, thrown through a shop window, shot at (several times), including by Kashmiri snipers, and chased through some of the worldтАЩs most dangerous countries. She also spent two years on the run protecting a Russian client being hunted by Vladimir Putin.
She rescued a young pregnant British woman who was kidnapped and held captive in Pakistan, and rescued men imprisoned by Saddam HusseinтАЩs son, Uday, in Iraq.
After leaving the police in the 1970s Jacquie Davis worked as a CPO, where her training тАФ which included combat training and a willingness to risk everything for the тАШprincipalтАЩ тАФ led her into increasingly life-threatening operations, so much so that she became recognised as the worldтАЩs top female bodyguard.
JacquieтАЩs autobiographical book тАЬThe CircuitтАЭ, first published by Penguin in 1998 and reprinted in 2020, is a fascinating account of one womanтАЩs amazing experiences involving the dangerous job of rescuing children and adults around the world, to the more glittering responsibility of guarding well-known celebrities such as Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Gerard Butler, Nicole Kidman, Bradley Cooper, heartthrob Justin Bieber and the Beckhams, to name but a few.
She spent four years as JK RowlingтАЩs personal bodyguard, and is now in demand protecting Middle Eastern royalty. In 2011, Jacquie Davis was hired by tabloid celebrity Katie Price, following intelligence from police that a violent gang targeting premiership soccer stars also had its sights on her.
The gang had been going to the homes of footballers and other rich individuals тАУ holding people hostage as they demanded the combinations to their safes.
Once seen as the preserve of royalty and celebrities, close protection officers are now in high demand for an increasing range of clients. The growth in the number of high-net-worth individuals over the last 25 years has certainly fuelled demand.
Jacquie Davis is trained to a high level in counter-surveillance, firearms, restraint tactics, bomb search, defensive driving, hostage awareness and survival.
However, her day-to-day client responsibilities are more about risk assessment, conflict management, strategic planning and tactics than the hyped and distorted Hollywood perception of bodyguards diving in front of bullets and high-speed car chases.
From giving a keynote address at conferences and summits around the world to speaking after dinner at black-tie gala events, Jacquie Davis delivers thought-provoking, eye-opening and awe-inspiring presentations that draw the (surprisingly many) parallels between our everyday environment and the somewhat niche world of close protection operatives.
Jacquie Davis also lectures to businesses, womenтАЩs groups and university students about how to stay safe; personally, socially and in the workplace.
