Alastair Gordon Martin-Chook, identified to many as “Birdie”, the co-founder of Martin Chook Productions and Equestrian Imaginative and prescient died on 11 December following an sickness, aged 68.
Educated at Charterhouse, Alastair was from an eminent equestrian household. His mom Diana was a founding member of the Pony Membership and his two sisters Angela and Tessa rode at Badminton. Alastair rode as a person on the 1972 junior European Eventing Championships and in addition in point-to-points. He met his spouse Harriet when she booked using classes along with his mom, and their two daughters Victoria and Alice had been eager riders, and followers of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt.
Alastair achieved a land company qualification at RAC Cirencester then labored for property agent John D Wooden in Horsham. There he contacted his future enterprise accomplice Jamie Hawksfield, whom he’d identified since childhood and on the time was additionally a practising land agent with RH and RW Clutton at East Grinstead. The seeds of their future enterprise liaison had been sown as Jamie requested Alastair if he would movie him using in a point-to-point. Neither of them was in love with their occupation and yearned to strive their abilities within the enterprise world.
The increasing video market and Alastair’s equestrian information led to the forming of Equestrian Imaginative and prescient and Martin Chook Productions (MBP). The primary contract of significance was Badminton Horse Trials in 1984, the place they made the primary of many official video critiques of equestrian championships, which might type the spine of the enterprise.
MBP produced the award-winning movie Foxhunting, which concerned a substantial amount of planning and organisation, with Alastair in his aspect. He was a wonderful producer; meticulous in his planning, he by no means left something to probability.
Alastair was invited to cite to movie the 1989 European Dressage Championships in Luxembourg for stay broadcast. He advised the powers that be the very first thing they wanted to do was to maneuver all of the judges’ containers, as if not, he wouldn’t be capable of do a superb job for them. It was the beginning of a extremely profitable and worthwhile contract with the FEI that may final greater than 20 years. He liked his journeys to the FEI headquarters and within the early days struck up a superb relationship with the then FEI president, the Infanta Pilar de Borbon of Spain.
Virtually single-handedly he persuaded the FEI to let his firm handle all their TV rights. This resulted in highlights programmes of all FEI courses worldwide, plus a extremely worthwhile journal programme sponsored for a few years by Rolex. Alastair was the principal pioneer in bringing horse sport to the display for hundreds of thousands to get pleasure from worldwide till his sickness resulted within the termination of the FEI contract.
He did a lot for the great of the game and its improvement internationally within the early a part of this century.
He’s survived by his spouse Harriet, and daughters Victoria and Alice.