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 cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er.

Cricket career

Cobham was educated at Stowe School, where he played for the school cricket team, before going up to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th centur ...

to read natural sciences. He played

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes un ...

for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

in the 1948 Minor Counties Championship, making five appearances. He later made an appearance in

for the Free Foresters against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Fenner's Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground. History Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orch ...

in 1953. He bowled ten wicket-less

overs Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England *Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England **Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pete ...

in Cambridge University's first-innings, before taking the wickets of Mike Bushby and

Dennis Silk Dennis Raoul Whitehall Silk (8 October 193119 June 2019) was an English first-class cricketer and a public school headmaster. He was a close friend of the poet Siegfried Sassoon, of whom he spoke and wrote extensively. In the 1990s he chaired t ...

in their second-innings to finish with figures of 2 for 21 from seven overs. He failed to score while batting, being dismissed in the Free Foresters' first-innings by

Myles Arkell Richard Henry Myles Arkell is an English cricketer who played in three first-class matches for Cambridge University between 1953 and 1955. He was born at Abington, Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East M ...

and Raman Subba Row in their second-innings.

Filmmaking career

Cobham directed the BBC's first wildlife film ''Vanishing Hedgerows'' in 1972. He also directed and produced the children's TV series '' Bernard's Watch'', '' Brendon Chase'', ''The Secret World of Polly Flint'', ''

Out of Sight ''Out of Sight'' is a 1998 American crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Scott Frank, adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1996 novel of the same name. The first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and actor Geor ...

'', '' Woof!'' and the wildlife-orientated ''Seal Morning'' (1986). His wildlife films include ''The Goshawk'' (1968), and '' To Build a Fire'' (1969), narrated by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. He also directed a BBC series about Japan, ''In the Shadow of Fujisan'' (

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

1987 and

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

2009). Other projects included ''One Pair of Eyes'' (1970) about the sculptor

John Skeaping John Rattenbury Skeaping, RA (9 June 1901 – 5 March 1980) was an English sculptor and equine painter and sculptor. He designed animal figures for Wedgwood, and his life-size statue of Secretariat is exhibited at the National Museum of ...

, ''Survival in Limbo'' (1976) 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 The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (howeve ...

, was published in 2017.

Death

Cobham died of a stroke on 25 March 2018 at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife Liza Goddard, ex-president of the Hawk and Owl Trust, of which he was vice-president.

References

External links

*
David Cobham Youtube ChannelBFI Filmography
Cobham, David * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobham, David 1930 births 2018 deaths People from Bridlington People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge English cricketers Berkshire cricketers Free Foresters cricketers British film directors British film producers 20th-century British businesspeople