Final farewell to ‘a pioneer’ who brought horse sport to the masses
Obituary
Alastair Gordon Martin-Bird, known to many as “Birdie”, the co-founder of Martin Bird Productions and Equestrian Vision died on 11 December following an illness, aged 68.
Educated at Charterhouse, Alastair was from an eminent equestrian family. His mother Diana was a founding member of the Pony Club and his two sisters Angela and Tessa rode at Badminton. Alastair rode as an individual at the 1972 junior European Eventing Championships and also in point-to-points. He met his wife Harriet when she booked riding lessons with his mother, and their two daughters Victoria and Alice were keen riders, and followers of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt.
Alastair achieved a land agency qualification at RAC Cirencester then worked for estate agent John D Wood in Horsham. There he contacted his future business partner Jamie Hawksfield, whom he’d known since childhood and at the time was also a practising land agent with RH and RW Clutton at East Grinstead. The seeds of their future business liaison were sown as Jamie asked Alastair if he would film him riding in a point-to-point. Neither of them was in love with their profession and yearned to try their skills in the business world.
The expanding video market and Alastair’s equestrian knowledge led to the forming of Equestrian Vision and Martin Bird Productions (MBP). The first contract of significance was Badminton Horse Trials in 1984, where they made the first of many official video reviews of equestrian championships, which would form the backbone of the business.
MBP produced the award-winning film Foxhunting, which involved a great deal of planning and organisation, with Alastair in his element. He was an excellent producer; meticulous in his planning, he never left anything to chance.
Alastair was invited to quote to film the 1989 European Dressage Championships in Luxembourg for live broadcast. He told the powers that be the first thing they needed to do was to move all the judges’ boxes, as if not, he would not be able to do a good job for them. It was the start of a highly successful and profitable contract with the FEI that would last more than 20 years. He loved his trips to the FEI headquarters and in the early days struck up a good relationship with the then FEI president, the Infanta Pilar de Borbon of Spain.
Almost single-handedly he persuaded the FEI to let his company manage all their TV rights. This resulted in highlights programmes of all FEI classes worldwide, plus a highly profitable magazine programme sponsored for many years by Rolex. Alastair was the principal pioneer in bringing horse sport to the screen for millions to enjoy worldwide until his illness resulted in the termination of the FEI contract.
He did much for the good of the sport and its development internationally in the early part of this century.
He is survived by his wife Harriet, and daughters Victoria and Alice.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.