{{Short description|English voice-over artist and actor (1929–2012)}} {{Use British English|date=June 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Brian Cobby | image = Brian_Cobby.jpg | caption = Cobby in 1984 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|10|12|df=yes}} | birth_place = Gravesend, Kent, UK | death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|10|31|1929|10|12|df=yes}} | education = Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art | occupation = {{Hlist|Actor|voice artist|telephone exchange worker}} | known_for = Being the voice of the British Speaking Clock (1985–2007) | years_active = 1950s–2007 }}
'''Brian Cobby''' (12 October 1929{{Spaced ndash}}31 October 2012)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10025579.Speaking_clock_actor_Brian_Cobby_dies_aged_83/?ref=nt|title=Speaking clock actor Brian Cobby Dies Aged 83|work=The Argus|accessdate=4 November 2012|date=4 November 2012|author=Walker, Emily}}</ref> was an English actor and telephone exchange worker who, in 1985, became the first male voice of the British speaking clock.
==Early life== Cobby was born in Gravesend, Kent, the son of Amy and Sydney Cobby, a retail manager. Sydney had hoped to serve in the Royal Navy like his father and grandfather before him, but was unable to join due to a ruptured eardrum. He instead joined Woolworths and moved around the country managing its stores, finally transferring from Gravesend to Oxford, where Brian spent most of his early years.
Cobby started singing while attending Ealing Academy, before becoming a chorister at Worcester College, Oxford and, later, the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where he won a competition to perform at St Paul's Cathedral. It was during this time that Cobby's love for acting grew, and he visited the Oxford Playhouse every week. One day he noticed an advertisement for a job for a young boy or girl at the Playhouse; this turned out to be sweeping the stage, but the manager encouraged him to continue his studies and later return to acting.
After completing his education, Cobby was called up for National Service at the age of 18, during which time he initially served with the Royal Engineers Postal Service before becoming a corporal and running the officer's mess. He also raised money for the Red Cross by performing puppet shows. He was then approached to work for the British Forces Network radio station in Hamburg, Germany, where he became a disc jockey, interviewer and announcer.
==Acting career== Upon his return to England, he decided to pursue acting, and attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Cobby's first theatrical part was that of God in a newly translated Strindberg play at the Watergate Theatre, London. During the 1950s, he acted in repertory theatre and toured with productions of ''Ladies for Hire'', ''Intimate Relations'', ''Peter Pan'', ''Henry IV, Parts 1'' and ''2'' and ''Macbeth''.
During the 1960s, Cobby voiced many television advertisements, including ones for Stork margarine,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/nov/05/brian-cobby/?ref=nt|title=Brian Cobby Obituary|work=The Guardian|accessdate=6 November 2012|location=London|first=Dennis|last=Barker|date=5 November 2012}}</ref> Surf washing powder and Big Fry, for which George Lazenby's voice was dubbed over with Cobby's. He appeared, albeit briefly, in the film version of ''Evita'' (1996), standing next to Madonna in the balcony scene.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f883f05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426090823/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f883f05|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 April 2017|title=Brian Cobby|website=BFI}}</ref> In 2004, he guest-starred in the ''Doctor Who'' audio drama ''The Creed of the Kromon''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://doctorwhoworlduk.com/creed|title=The Creed of the Kroman | Doctor Who World}}</ref>
==Speaking clock voice== When the machinery behind the speaking clock was due to be replaced in the mid-1980s, British Telecom (now BT plc) launched a search for a new voice from among its employees. More than 5,000 staff entered the "Golden Voice" competition, which ended on 5 December 1984 when Cobby, an assistant supervisor at a telephone exchange in Withdean, Brighton, was selected from 12 finalists. The selection was broadcast live on BBC ''Breakfast Time'' from the top of BT Tower. The speaking clock had been voiced by female employees since 1936, and the other 11 finalists were female. Interviewed much later for BBC radio, Cobby recalled the selection event and his pessimism in the company of 11 female candidates. Perhaps recalling his leading role in the 1960 film ''The Nudist Story'', he wryly remembered hoping that the selection panel in 1984 would choose "a clock with a pendulum".{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}
Cobby's speaking clock was inaugurated on 2 April 1985 and his voice was used until 2 April 2007, when it was replaced with that of Sara Mendes da Costa.
==''Thunderbirds'' claim== Cobby has frequently been cited as the (uncredited) voice of the countdown that plays during the title sequence of the 1960s puppet TV series ''Thunderbirds'',<ref>10 Things We Didn't Know Last Week – [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4413636.stm BBC News, November 2005]</ref><ref>Profile published in the ''Insight'' between 2001 and 2004 – [http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__5527_path__0p117p155p.aspx Voice of the Speaking Clock]</ref><ref>The 22 April 2008 edition of BBC One's ''University Challenge'' attributed the voice-over to Cobby.</ref> and said so.<ref>"In 1965, I did one of my most famous voice-overs: the countdown for ''Thunderbirds''." – [http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/notesandmiscellany/profilesandinterviews/0210106.asp Waitrose Food Illustrated, October 2002] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912155430/http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/notesandmiscellany/profilesandinterviews/0210106.asp |date=12 September 2006 }}</ref> The year that he cited (1965) post-dates the recording of the series, which started in 1964. Although Cobby was contracted by the BBC for a similar recording, this may only have been for a Tracy Island children's toy.
''Thunderbirds'' producer Gerry Anderson maintained that the countdown was recorded by Peter Dyneley, who provided the voice of Jeff Tracy for both the series' 32 episodes and its two film sequels, : '''Question''': ''An actor by the name of Brian Cobby has claimed that he was the voice of the famous '5-4-3-2-1 ''Thunderbirds'' are go!' countdown, whereas the voice sounds just like Jeff Tracy voice artist Peter Dyneley. Can you please confirm, just for the record, who the actual voice artist was?'' Ian Fryer, Bradford, W. Yorks
: '''Answer''': ''Sorry, but I haven't got a clue who Brian Cobby is, Ian! Does anyone really believe that we'd hire a different actor to record those eight words in preference to the talented team of artists we'd already assembled to perform in the series? I remember the countdown as being one of the hardest voice recording sessions as it wasn't just a case of someone coming in and reading out the lines. The actor had to really emote, and only an actor who had been involved in the production and understood what it was about could really do it. No, anyone who's heard the ''Thunderbirds'' countdown knows that it is Peter Dyneley.''<ref>Gerry Anderson: "Ask Anderson" in ''FAB News'', Issue 58 (Vol. 12, No. 2), p. 11.</ref>
==Death== Cobby died on 31 October 2012, aged 83, following a series of health problems.
==Selected filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes |- | 1960 || ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' || || |- | 1960 || ''The Nudist Story'' || Bob Sutton || Lead Role |- | 1961 || ''The Breaking Point'' || Peter de Savory || a.k.a. ''The Great Armored Car Swindle'' |- | 1961 || ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159200/ The Pursuers]'' || Daly || Season 1: Episode 37: "The Contract" |- | 1961 || ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054529/ The Cheaters]'' || First Mate || Season 1: Episode 10: "The Schemers" |- | 1961 || ''Another World: Island of the Solan Goose'' || Narrator || Documentary for Granada Television |- | 1961 || ''Another World: Folk of the Sea'' || Narrator || Documentary for Granada Television |- | 1962 || ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157242/ Richard the Lionheart]'' || Captain || Season 1: Episode 21: "A Marriage of Convenience" |- | 1962 || ''Fate Takes a Hand'' || Mark || |- | 1963 || ''Calculated Risk'' || Police Constable || |- | 1964 || ''Sir Basil Spence'' || Narrator || Associated British Pathé |- | 1964 || ''Men of our Time – Hitler''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?item=T81:0952|title=The Paley Center for Media|website=The Paley Center for Media}}</ref>|| Narrator || Documentary for Granada Television |- | 1965 || ''The New Men'' || Narrator || Associated British Pathé |- | 1965 || ''Crane'' || Lev || Season 3, Episode 12: "The Death of Karloff" |- | 1966 || ''The British Motor car'' || Narrator || Associated British Pathé |- | 1972 || ''[http://www.startrader.co.uk/Action%20TV/guide70s/manoutside.htm The Man Outside]'' || || Season 1, Episode 1: "The Last Target" |- | 1973 || ''The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'' || De Beers Director || Season 2, Episode 2: "Five Hundred Carats" |- | 1974 || ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497198/ Death or Glory Boy]'' || Rifles Major || Season 1, Episode 3: "Early Breakfast" |- | 1985 || ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088506/ The Detective]'' || Newsreader || Season 1, Episodes 1 and 5 |- | 1988 || ''Paris By Night'' || Foreign Secretary || |- | 1996 || ''Evita'' || Hortensio Quijano || |- | 2011 || ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1971367/ Danziger Studios: The Untold Elstree Story]'' || Himself || |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0167857}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090131003216/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/18313 BFI Profile]
{{s-start}} {{succession box | title=Permanent voice of the British Speaking clock | years=2 April 1985{{Spaced ndash}}2 April 2007 | before=Pat Simmons | after=Sara Mendes da Costa |}} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobby, Brian}} Category:1929 births Category:2012 deaths Category:20th-century British Army personnel Category:20th-century English male actors Category:21st-century English male actors Category:Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Category:BT Group people Category:Clocks in the United Kingdom Category:English child singers Category:English male film actors Category:English male singers Category:English male stage actors Category:English male television actors Category:English male voice actors Category:Male actors from Gravesend Category:Male actors from Oxford Category:People educated at the City of Oxford High School for Boys Category:Royal Engineers soldiers Category:Telephone voiceover talent