Photojournalist leaves 'rich archive of images' documenting the life and history of Cornwall

A CORNWALL-BASED photo-journalist has died at the age of 80 after a short illness.

- by ABIGAIL NEEP

David Brenchley's achievements including working on Doctor Who, being part of an internationally recognised band and, later in life, becoming a fixture in Cornish photography and journalism.

He is survived by his wife, Trish, four children, six grandchildren and sister Anne.

His daughter Sam Brenchley said her father's early interests covered a variety of creative outlets.

"One of David's early interests included chemistry; an infamous childhood experiment involving homemade ginger beer resulted in the destruction of the family garden shed," she said. "Another was music, principally guitar."

David formed a skiffle band, The Electrons, and was a founder member of an early incarnation of The Zombies, alongside Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent.

The Zombies went on to achieve international success, although David left the band before they released their first hit record.

After A-levels he trained as a camera operator with the BBC at White City in London and worked on many notable programmes including Doctor Who, Top of the Pops, Steptoe and Son and That Was the Week That Was.

"Once he tripped over a Dalek while filming for Doctor Who and a heated exchange ensued, resulting in the Dalek using some rather colourful language directing David to perhaps watch his footing in future," said Sam.

After leaving the BBC David joined a Hertfordshire newspaper as a photojournalist. He met his first wife, Patricia, and in the early 1970s set about building Cornish Photonews.