Brian Cobby

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Brian Cobby (born 12 October 1929), is a British actor who in 1985 became the first male voice of the British speaking clock. In 2004, Cobby guest starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Creed of the Kromon.

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[edit] Thunderbirds Controversy

Cobby has frequently been cited as providing the (uncredited) voice-over countdown for the Thunderbirds title sequence[1][2], but it is possible that he has confused a recording for one of the many toys and products released since the series aired, as the date he recalls[3] postdates the 1964 recording of the series.

In 22nd April 2008 the BBC's University Challenge programme may have further added to the confusion by attributing the countdown to Cobby.

However, Thunderbirds' producer Gerry Anderson has stated (as long believed by many of the TV series' fans) that the countdown was recorded by the late Peter Dyneley, who provided the voice of Jeff Tracy throughout the series' 32 episodes and two feature films -

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.[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 10 things we didn't know last week - BBC News, Nov. 2005
  2. ^ Profile published in the Insight between 2001-2004- Voice of the Speaking Clock
  3. ^ "In 1965, I did one of my most famous voiceovers: the countdown for Thunderbirds." - Waitrose Food Illustrated, Oct. 2002
  4. ^ Gerry Anderson: ‘Ask Anderson’ in FAB news issue 58 (Vol 12 no. 2) p.11.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Pat Simmons		 Permanent voice of the British Speaking clock
2 April 1985 - 2 April 2007		 Succeeded by
Sara Mendes da Costa