David Cobham
{{short description|British film/TV director and producer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name =
| image =
| country = England
| fullname = Michael David Cobham
| nickname =
| birth_date = 11 May 1930
| birth_place = Boynton, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2018|3|5|1930|5|11}}
| death_place = Dereham, Norfolk, England
| heightft = 6
| heightinch = 7
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm fast-medium
| family =
| role =
| club1 = Berkshire
| year1 = 1948
| columns = 1
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 1
| runs1 = 0
| bat avg1 = 0.00
| 100s/50s1 = –/–
| top score1 = 0
| deliveries1 = 102
| wickets1 = 2
| bowl avg1 = 27.00
| fivefor1 = –
| tenfor1 = –
| best bowling1 = 2/21
| catches/stumpings1 = –/–
| date = 7 February
| year = 2019
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/11201.html Cricinfo
}}
Michael David Cobham (11 May 1930 – 25 March 2018) was a British film and TV producer and director, best known for the film Tarka the Otter. He was also a first-class cricketer.
Early life
Cobham was educated at Stowe School, where he played for the school cricket team, before going up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge to read natural sciences.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/27/david-cobham-obituary|title=David Cobham obituary|last=Moss|first=Stephen|date=27 March 2018|work=The Guardian|accessdate=7 February 2019}}
Cricket career
He played minor counties cricket for Berkshire in the 1948 Minor Counties Championship, making five appearances.{{cite web|url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28605/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html |title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by David Cobham |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=7 February 2019 |url-access=subscription}} He later made an appearance in first-class cricket for the Free Foresters against Cambridge University at Fenner's in 1953.{{cite web|url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/28/28605/First-Class_Matches.html |title=First-Class Matches played by David Cobham |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=7 February 2019 |url-access=subscription}} He bowled ten wicket-less overs in Cambridge University's first-innings, before taking the wickets of Mike Bushby and Dennis Silk in their second-innings to finish with figures of 2 for 21 from seven overs.{{cite web|url=http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/20/20573.html |title=Cambridge University v Free Foresters, 1953 |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=7 February 2019|url-access=subscription}} He failed to score while batting, being dismissed in the Free Foresters' first-innings by Myles Arkell and Raman Subba Row in their second-innings.
Filmmaking career
Cobham directed the BBC's first wildlife film The Vanishing Hedgerows in 1972 with Henry Williamson noting changes brought about by new farming methods. At the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, it won a silver nymph in the category for documentaries.
Tarka the Otter is a 1979 British adventure film directed by Cobham, based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Williamson. Tarka the Otter was voted 98th in Channel 4’s poll of the 100 Greatest Family Films.{{cite web
| title = 100 Greatest Family Films
| publisher = Channel 4
| url = http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/F/greatest-familymovies/results/100-96.html
| accessdate = 2008-03-24}}
He also directed and produced the children's TV series Bernard's Watch, Brendon Chase, The Secret World of Polly Flint, Out of Sight, Woof! and the wildlife-orientated Seal Morning (1986). His wildlife films include The Goshawk (1968),{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/222617|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230101123/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/222617|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 December 2007|title=The Goshawk (1968)|website=Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk|accessdate=13 October 2018}} and To Build a Fire (1969), narrated by Orson Welles. He also directed a BBC series about Japan, In the Shadow of Fujisan (BBC One 1987 and BBC Four 2009).{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jkrkr|title=BBC Four – In the Shadow of Fujisan, Long Live the Turtle|publisher=BBC|accessdate=13 October 2018}} Other projects included One Pair of Eyes (1970) about the sculptor John Skeaping, Survival in Limbo (1976){{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMG1uCGeixI|title=Survival in Limbo – Complete Film|first=David |last=Cobham|date=18 November 2013|accessdate=13 October 2018|via=YouTube}} starring Duncan Carse, and he was also the director/producer for BP's film of Donald Campbell's Land Speed Record attempt at Utah in 1960.
Books
Cobham's first book, A Sparrowhawk's Lament: How British Breeding Birds of Prey Are Faring, was published in 2014; his next book, Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier, a study of the persecution of the hen harrier on the grouse moors of the Forest of Bowland, was published in 2017.{{cite news |last1=East |first1=Ben |title=Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier review – a clarion call for wild birds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/13/bowland-beth-the-life-of-an-english-hen-harrier-david-cobham-review |accessdate=24 October 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=13 August 2017}}
Death
Cobham died of a stroke on 25 March 2018 at the age of 87.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/entertainment/2018/03/26/news/tribute-to-tarka-director-and-wildlife-filmmaker-david-cobham-from-chris-packham-1288101/|title=Tribute to Tarka director and wildlife filmmaker David Cobham from Chris Packham|newspaper=The Irish News}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-43546780|title=Tarka the Otter director dies aged 87|date=26 March 2018|publisher=BBC}} He is survived by his wife Liza Goddard, ex-president of the Hawk and Owl Trust, of which he was vice-president.{{cite web |url=http://www.hawkandowl.org/About_us/TrustWhosWho |title=Hawk and Owl Trust | About | Hawk and Owl Trust board |access-date=4 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119220515/http://www.hawkandowl.org/About_us/TrustWhosWho |archive-date=19 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{imdb name|0167886}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/user/bigdavidcobham David Cobham Youtube Channel]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090208012714/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/4072?view=credit&page=3 BFI Filmography] Cobham, David
- {{cite web |title=David Cobham |url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/david-cobham |website=The British Entertainment History Project}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobham, David}}
Category:People from Bridlington
Category:People educated at Stowe School
Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Category:Free Foresters cricketers
Category:British film directors
Category:British film producers