Mark Cocker (born 1959) is a British author and
naturalist. He lives with his wife, Mary Muir, and two daughters in
Claxton,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
; the countryside around Claxton is a theme for two of his twelve books.
Cocker has written extensively for British newspapers and magazines including ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' and ''
BBC Wildlife
''BBC Wildlife'' is a British glossy, all-colour magazine about wildlife, operated and published by Immediate Media Company. It produces 13 issues a year.
''BBC Wildlife'' was launched in January 1963 as ''Animals Magazine'', edited by filmmaker ...
''. He has written a regular '
Country Diary
''Country Diary'' is a daily natural history column in the English newspaper ''The Guardian'', first published in November 1906. It is also now freely available on the newspaper's website. Past and present contributors include Pete Bowler, Arnol ...
' column in the ''Guardian'' since 1988 and a wildlife column in the international subscribers' edition, the ''
Guardian Weekly
''The Guardian Weekly'' is an international English-language news magazine based in London, UK. It is one of the world's oldest international news publications and has readers in more than 170 countries. Editorial content is drawn from its sis ...
'' from 1996–2002. He reviews regularly for the Guardian and the ''
Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
''.
Background and education
Cocker was brought up and educated in
Buxton
Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.[Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to:
Basic meanings Geology
* Mountain peak
** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics
* Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion
* Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...]
. This early access to the spectacular
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
of the
Derbyshire Dales
Derbyshire Dales ( ) is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 71,116. Much of it is in the Peak District, although most of its population lies along the River Derwent.
The borough borders ...
and the specialised upland birds of the
Dark Peak
The Dark Peak is the higher and wilder part of the Peak District in England, mostly forming the northern section but also extending south into its eastern and western margins. It is mainly in Derbyshire but parts are in Staffordshire, Cheshire, ...
provided formative experiences in his evolution as a naturalist.
He was educated at
Buxton College, and studied
English Literature at the
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
(1978–82), where he became immersed in East Anglia's nationally important wildlife landscapes, including the North
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
coast,
Breckland and
the Broads
The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...
. These became the inspiration for the vast majority of 900+ articles on wildlife, published in national and regional newspapers.
An active environmentalist, Cocker worked for the
RSPB (1985),
English Nature
English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...
(now
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
1985–86) and
BirdLife International (1988–89). In 1998 he received a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship to explore the cultural importance of birds in West Africa (
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...
and
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
).
Themes and interests
Biographical excursions
Cocker has travelled to over 40 countries spanning 5 continents in pursuit of wildlife. Between 1982 and 1984 he spent a total of 10 months in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
. This proved to be the background to two biographical studies: ''A Himalayan Ornithologist: The Life and Work of
Brian Houghton Hodgson
Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Hima ...
'' and ''
Richard Meinertzhagen
Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer, and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa and the Middle East. He was credited with creating and ...
: Soldier Scientist and Spy''. These examined two remarkable figures from the age of Empire, radically different in personality, but united by the
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
ic range of their interests.
Hodgson was the
Honourable East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
’s resident (proto Ambassador) in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
, where he researched
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
, from fish and
amphibians, to birds and mammals. He was also a scholar of
Himalayan languages and of
Mahayana Buddhism. Six weeks spent in a
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
an
Buddhist monastery
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
led to Cocker's involvement in this book.
Meinertzhagen, on the other hand, was a big-game hunter, a soldier, naturalist, minor political figure, writer, intelligence officer, explorer and diarist. Cocker's biography of Meinertzhagen received widespread critical acclaim and was judged, with
Mark Hudson's ''Our Grandmothers‘ Drums'' and
Bill Bryson
William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...
's ''
The Lost Continent'', one of the highlights for
Secker and Warburg
Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press.
History
Secker & Warburg
Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...
in 1989. The novelist
William Boyd, who had drawn on some of Meinertzhagen's writings in his novel ''
An Ice-Cream War'', said of Cocker's biographical study of Meinertzhagen:
"Mark Cocker lucidly and honestly tries to pin the man down and succeeds admirably insofar as such an attempt is possible. The problem with Meinertzhagen, … is that the chief witness and key source is the man himself. Cocker has unearthed in his diaries patent elaborations, exaggerations and falsehoods and there is evidence too that in his scientific career Meinertzhagen indulged in practices that would be considered highly fraudulent. … But with that reservation it is a compelling story and Meinertzhagen, however bizarre or preposterous or sinister or admirable we may think him, is one of the genuinely fascinating mavericks in 20th-century history."
Cocker's next two books reflected his darkening perception of Britain’s wider
imperial impact upon the lands and peoples that they explored and occupied.
Conquest and power
In the 1990s, Cocker shifted his focus from the orthodox biography of colonial figures to a moral reflection upon the real impact of
European Empire; this resulted in his next two books: ''Loneliness and Time: British Travel Writing in the Twentieth Century'' and ''Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe’s Conflict with Tribal People''.
''Loneliness and Time'' is an attempt to provide both a generic understanding of the importance of travel and foreign lands to the British
psyche
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή).
Psyche may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...
, and an investigation of the intellectual value and literary canons of the
travel book. It received mixed reviews.
''Loneliness and Time'' was followed by an indictment of European exploitation and destruction of
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, ''Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold'', which Cocker considered his most important book. The work focuses on four collisions between Europeans and indigenous cultures: the conquest of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, the British onslaught on the
Tasmanian Aborigines
The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...
, the uprooting of the
Apaches
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
, and the German campaign against the tribes of Southwest Africa. The book was praised and criticised on both sides of the Atlantic for similar reasons. Among its critics,
Ronald Wright, noted its "shaky existential dichotomy between Europeans and “tribal peoples”", while fellow historian
Alfred Crosby
Alfred W. Crosby Jr. (January 15, 1931 – March 14, 2018) was professor of History, Geography, and American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and University of Helsinki. He was the author of books including '' The Columbian Exchange' ...
suggested that "Cocker has written the kind of book we needed a generation ago, when our concept of history was profoundly
Eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western worl ...
, but surely now all of us given to reading history books are doubtful about the immaculate gloriousness of white civilization".
By contrast,
Charles Nicholl wrote that "Cocker succeeds in finding a tone appropriate to the matter: he has a journalistic sense of impact and a powerful command of historical narrative. This is a powerful book, communicating its fierce indignation without recourse to polemic.", while
Ronald Wright stated "The most powerful theme of Mark Cocker's books is … his vivid map of hell into which people can so easily descend when they have ideology, means and opportunity."
"The poetry of fact"
All of Cocker's subsequent work has focused on aspects of
natural history. The best known is the epic ''Birds Britannica'', a work of nature study, rich with literary, historical and cultural references. It was based on ''Flora Britannica'' by
nature writer
Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose or poetry about the natural environment. Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history facts (such as field guides) to those in ...
Richard Mabey
Richard Thomas Mabey (born 20 February 1941) is a writer and broadcaster, chiefly on the relations between nature and culture.
Education
Mabey was educated at three independent schools, all in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. The first was at Roth ...
, who initiated its sister volume. However Mabey's ill health meant that it was written entirely by Cocker. As
Philip Marsden
Philip Marsden, also known as Philip Marsden-Smedley (born 11 May 1961), is an English travel writer and novelist.
Born in Bristol, England, Marsden has a degree in anthropology and worked for some years for ''The Spectator'' magazine. He became a ...
puts it:
Cocker's work on the ubiquitous
crow
A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
is in similar spirit: a rare combination of natural history and
cultural anthropology. ''Crow Country'' is Cocker's most successful book to date, receiving widespread critical acclaim. Of ''Crow Country'', Cocker said:
The importance of being 'true' to the nature of the subject is apparent, but so too is his desire to discover the wealth of
cultural significance attached to it. Like the natural detective's search for the perpetrator, Cocker's investigations are laden with significance. Reminiscent of an earlier age of scientific investigation, the 'whole picture' perspective being not unlike that of
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
who wrote in a similar vein:
This unique combination of natural scientist, environmentalist and cultural anthropologist is most evident in his latest project ''Birds and People''.
''Birds and People''
Cocker's latest project with foremost British wildlife photographer
David Tipling and natural history author
Jonathan Elphick
Jonathan Elphick is a British natural history writer, editor and consultant. He is an eminent ornithologist, a qualified zoologist; Fellow of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. He is author of ''The ...
, is ''
Birds and People''.
[ Birds and People website](_blank)
/ref> ''Birds and People'' is a ten-year-long collaboration between the publishers Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
and BirdLife International to survey and document the worldwide cultural significance of birds. The ''Birds and People'' project involves an open internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...
, for individuals worldwide to document their reflections, experiences and stories about birds. The final book is intended as a global chorus on the relationship between human beings and birds.
The resulting book is intended as a summary of the current state of birdlife worldwide. Cocker suggests that birds are the miner's canary for the natural world. However a further aim of the ''Birds and People'' project is to provide a panoramic survey of the multitudinous way in which birds enter and enrich human lives. This underscores the author's preoccupation with a less obvious aspect of biological impoverishment. Loss of biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
is invariably considered only in terms of its ecological and environmental consequences. ''Birds and People'' is intended to highlight how a decline in species inflicts parallel losses upon the very fabric of human culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylo ...
s.
Additional information
Cocker's book ''Richard Meinertzhagen
Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer, and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa and the Middle East. He was credited with creating and ...
'' was shortlisted for the Angel Award (1989). ''Birds Britannica'', a project initiated by Richard Mabey and written by Mark Cocker, was British Birds/BTO Bird Book of the Year (2005) and described by Andrew Motion, the poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
as:
''Crow Country'' was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...
for Non-Fiction (2008).
Cocker is a co-founder of the Oriental Bird Club, a founding council member of the African Bird Club, a former council member of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society and President (2007–08).
''Our Place'' was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize
The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. In 2020 it was split into the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing and the Wainwright Prize for writing on globa ...
(2019).
Books
*
*
*
** published as
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
''Birds and People''
Owls in Lore and Culture (paper)
Country Diary columns by Cocker
(found via Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
)
Book reviews by Cocker
from ''The Guardian''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocker, Mark
1959 births
Living people
People educated at Buxton College
Alumni of the University of East Anglia
British nature writers
The Guardian journalists