My father, David Cobbold, was always delighted that his birthday fell on Quatorze Julliet, the French national holiday. Even if he couldn’t be in his second favourite country that day, it made him happy to know that in town squares and villages all over France, couples were dancing to accordions and fireworks were lighting up the sky. So 14th July – which would have been his 85th birthday – was the perfect day to celebrate his life with a Memorial picnic on the lawn in front of Knebworth House.
Tributes were paid by David’s brother Rowland, who recalled their 1940s childhood at Lodge Farm; David’s school and university friend, Lindsay Bury, recalled David’s National Service in the air force in Canada and his colourful Cambridge years, sneaking my mother Chryssie into his college rooms; Stevenage Councillor Stephen Booth remembered David’s candidacy to represent Hertfordshire in the European elections in 1979, when he got the fifth highest Liberal vote in the country (but disappointingly no seat); Old Knebworth Village Green (which David established) resident Rob Smith (pictured) spoke of David’s commitment to local causes and initiatives, in particular the Knebworth Twinning Association, and it was a wonderful surprise to welcome Marie-Geneviève Coutand et Marie-Françoise Bodin from Chatelaillon, who came over especially for the Memorial.
Alongside the memories, David’s favourite songs were performed by his adopted Ugandan sons, Danny and Harry Matovu, his grandson Edward Lytton Cobbold and his son-in-law Demian Dorelli. Carolyn Allen, who in 1973, aged 19, performed all summer long at Knebworth House in the Edward Bulwer Lytton Centenary theatricals and dinners, performed Noel Gay’s “For All You Mean To Me”. To round off a magical evening, Mary Hopkin’s daughter, Jessica Lee Morgan (also pictured, in the distance), performed her mother’s 1968 hit “Those Were The Days”:
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day…
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH
