{{Short description|British-Australian radio presenter}} {{EngvarB|date=April 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} '''George Malcolm Cocker''' (1941 – 3 June 2016) better known as '''Mac Cocker''', was an English-born Australian radio announcer. He also worked as a DJ, musician, and actor. Cocker worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio network for 33 years, with stints on Radio Australia, Double J, Radio National, and 105.7 ABC Darwin. He is the father of Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of the English rock band Pulp.

==Early life== George Malcolm Cocker<ref name="goodpop">Cocker, Jarvis. ''Good Pop, Bad Pop'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2022, p. 320</ref> was born in Sheffield, England, in 1941.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==Radio career== In 1974, Cocker was recruited by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to work for Radio Australia on special projects in Melbourne. In March 1975, he was one of the early staff of 2JJ or Double J, a new radio station established by the ABC. Cocker remained at 2JJ, which later became 2JJJ and then Triple J, until 1985 when he left to spend five years travelling around the world.<ref name="farwellmac">{{cite news|last1=Gifford|first1=Robyn|title=Farewell Mac|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/06/01/1940053.htm|accessdate=4 June 2016|publisher=105.7 ABC Darwin|date=1 June 2007}}</ref>

In 1984, he made two minor appearances in television series, one in the cricket miniseries ''Bodyline'', and one playing himself as a 2JJ DJ in the drama series ''Sweet and Sour'' about a band trying to make it in the Sydney music scene. For many years, Cocker fostered the rumour that he was related to the singer Joe Cocker, who had the same surname and was also from Sheffield, although they were not actually related.<ref name="ripjoecocker">{{cite news|last1=Breihan|first1=Tom|title=R.I.P. Joe Cocker|url=http://www.stereogum.com/1726211/r-i-p-joe-cocker/obit/|accessdate=4 June 2016|work=Stereogum|date=22 December 2014}}</ref> Friend and 2JJ colleague Mark Colvin would later recall that Mac produced a radio documentary as he travelled with Joe Cocker's touring entourage entitled "I'm a Cocker, Too".<ref name="colvinius">{{cite web|last1=Colvin|first1=Mark|title=Remembering how Double J's Mac Cocker toured Australia in Joe Cocker's entourage to make a radio doco called "I'm a Cocker, too".|url=https://twitter.com/Colvinius/status/547259926913888257|website=Twitter|accessdate=4 June 2016}}</ref>

In 1990, Cocker returned to Australia, and moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory. He resumed his career with ABC Radio, joining 105.7 ABC Darwin where he worked each of the regular shifts at some time, as well as presenting the specialist programs ''The Night Train'', ''The Globetrotter'' and ''Louvred Lounge'', as well as a weekly ''Vinyl Museum'' program for Radio National in the early 1990s. He retired from the ABC in 2007 after a 33-year career.<ref name="farwellmac" />

==Personal life and death== Cocker married art student Christine Connolly and they had a son, Jarvis, and a daughter, Saskia. In 1970, Cocker walked out on the family, who woke up one morning to find a note that he had left them. He moved to Sydney, Australia.<ref name="jarvis">{{cite news|title='Jarvis was a wonderful mistake' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4714379/Jarvis-was-a-wonderful-mistake.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403032350/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4714379/Jarvis-was-a-wonderful-mistake.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 April 2015|accessdate=4 June 2016|work=The Telegraph|date=13 June 1998}}</ref><ref name="newstatesman">{{cite news |last1=Mossman |first1=Kate |title=Jarvis Cocker interview: At the end of 1996, I had "a nervous breakdown" |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2021/09/jarvis-cocker-at-the-end-of-1996-i-had-a-nervous-breakdown |access-date=10 October 2025 |work=The New Statesman |date=20 September 2021}}</ref>

In 1998, Jarvis and Saskia flew to Australia to meet and reconcile with their estranged father. In 2006, Jarvis maintained that he had forgiven him although they did not stay in contact, saying "I don't feel any bitterness towards him at all. I feel sorry for him."<ref name="lonestar">{{cite news|title=Jarvis Cocker: Lone star|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/jarvis-cocker-lone-star-429504.html|accessdate=4 June 2016|work=The Independent|date=23 December 2006}}</ref>

Cocker died in Darwin on 3 June 2016 after a long illness.<ref name="vale">{{cite news|title=Vale Mac Cocker, former Double J presenter |url=http://doublej.net.au/news/music-news/vale-mac-cocker-former-double-j-presenter|publisher=Double J|date=3 June 2016}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|nm5062797}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocker, Mac}} Category:Year of birth unknown Category:2016 deaths Category:Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio journalists and presenters Category:Triple J announcers Category:English emigrants to Australia Category:Musicians from Sheffield Category:1941 births