Tristan John de Vere Cole (born 16 March 1935) is an English television director, now retired. In his first career, he was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Officer for seven years.

Life

Cole is believed to be the last-surviving illegitimate son of the painter

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

(1878–1961). His mother, Mavis Cole, met John at the

Café Royal A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

in 1928, and agreed to model for him. In 1931 she married

Horace de Vere Cole William Horace de Vere Cole (5 May 1881 – 25 February 1936) was an eccentric prankster born in Ballincollig, County Cork, Ireland. His most famous prank was the ''Dreadnought'' hoax where he and several others in blackface, pretending to b ...

, a well-known Edwardian practical joker, then in 1932 became the mistress of Augustus John. Cole was brought up in the John household at Fryern Court,

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late medieva ...

, from the age of 18 months, partly by his mother, and then later by

Dorelia McNeill Dorothy (Dorelia) McNeill (19 December 1881 – 23 July 1969) was best known as a model for the Welsh artists Gwen John and Augustus John, was the common-law wife of the latter, and has been credited for inspiring "his first unequivocally perso ...

. Cole was educated for three years at

Kelly College Kelly College was a coeducational independent school in the English public school tradition situated in the outskirts of Tavistock, Devon, with around 350 students ranging from ages 3 to 18. There was an associated preparatory school for pri ...

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

, from thirteen to sixteen, and then from 1951 trained for a naval career at the

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. He went on to serve as an officer in the Royal Navy from 1953 to 1960. After his return to civilian life, Cole worked at the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

as Assistant Stage Manager and actor, before moving on to a career with

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

. He married Diana Crosby Cook in 1962 and with her has a son, Cassian de Vere Cole, born in 1966, a fine art dealer in London. In 1993 Cole met Prudence Murdoch, a divorced lawyer with three children, and they set up house together near Newbury in

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 Berk ...

. They were married in 2000 and stayed together until her death in 2010. He now lives in

Sutton Scotney Sutton Scotney is a village in Hampshire, England, north of Winchester in the civil parish of Wonston. It lies alongside the River Dever and is now bypassed by the A34 trunk road. It is notable for having been the site of numerous Spitfire crash ...

, not far from his partner Anne Stow, eldest grandchild of

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...

, a former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, whose wife was a sister of Horace de Vere Cole.

Work as television director

*''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

'' (episodes in 1968) *''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'': ''

The Wheel in Space ''The Wheel in Space'' is the mostly missing seventh and final serial of the fifth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in six weekly parts from 27 April to 1 June 1968. In this seria ...

'' (1968) *''

Take Three Girls ''Take Three Girls'' is a television drama series broadcast by BBC1 between 1969 and 1971 that follows three young women sharing a flat in "Swinging London" (located at 17 Glazbury Road, West Kensington, W14). It was BBC1's first colour drama se ...

'' (1969) *''

Emmerdale Farm ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'' (1972–1973) *''

Trinity Tales ''Trinity Tales'' is a 1975 British television series, consisting of six 50-minute programmes, written by Alan Plater and shown on BBC2. It was loosely based on Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'', updated to a modern setting. The series ev ...

'' (1975) *''

Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

'' (1976) *'' Survivors'' (1977 episodes)Harris M. Lentz, ''Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Television shows'' (McFarland, 2001), p. 2132 *'' Secret Army'' (1979) *''

Juliet Bravo ''Juliet Bravo'' is a British television police procedural drama series, first broadcast on 30 August 1980, that ran for six series and a total of 88 episodes on BBC1. The theme of the series concerned a female police inspector who took over con ...

'' (1980) *'' The Spoils of War'' (1981) *''

Howards' Way ''Howards' Way'' is a television drama series produced by BBC Birmingham and transmitted on BBC1 between 1 September 1985 and 25 November 1990. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the wealthy yachting and business comm ...

'' (1985–1988) *''

Rockliffe's Folly Rockliffe may refer to: People *Rockliffe Fellowes (1883–1950), Canadian actor * David Lunn-Rockliffe (1924–2011), British businessman * Thornton Rockliffe (1887–1961), Australian cricketer Others *Rockliffe Park (Hurworth), training facil ...

'' (1988) *'' Bergerac'' (1988–1992) * ''Trainer'' (1992)

Work as film director

*''

Orion's Belt Orion's Belt or the Belt of Orion, also known as the Three Kings or Three Sisters, is an asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak Alnitak is a triple star system in the constellation of ...

'' (1985) *'' The Dive'' (1990)

Publications

* with Roderic Owen, ''Beautiful and Beloved: the Life of Mavis de Vere Cole'' (Hutchinson, 1974)

References

IMDb biography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Tristan De Vere 1935 births Royal Navy officers Military personnel from Berkshire British film directors Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Living people People educated at Kelly College People from Redruth People from Newbury, Berkshire People from the City of Winchester