This Is Your Life: Mark Cook

Colonel Mark COOK OBE (1943-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Mark Cook, charity founder, was surprised by Michael Aspel at the Royal Gurkha Rifles, Queen Elizabeth barracks in Church Crookham, Hampshire, having been led to believe he was there to take part in a film documentary.

Mark, who was born in Norfolk, was commissioned into the 10th Gurkha Rifles in 1962 and spent three decades in active service around the world, rising to the rank of Colonel. In 1992, during the Balkans War, he served as Commander of the British Contingent in the UN Protection Force in Croatia, where he witnessed firsthand the suffering of children whose lives were devastated by war.

When he learned of the plight of a group of children whose orphanage had been destroyed, he pledged to rebuild it. After raising £1 million in 18 months, the orphanage was reopened in December 1993. Mark left the Army the following year and founded the charity Hope and Homes for Children with his wife Caroline, which soon expanded its operation to 10 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, working with governments to reform institutionalised childcare systems.

"Total! Utter! I don't know what to say!"

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