[2] His father, a bank manager and devout Roman Catholic, was very active in his upbringing, sending him to the Jesuit school he had himself attended, St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool.

[2] Geography was a subject Cosgrove loved, but the school had a low opinion of it, and as an A-stream student he was forced to drop it in favour of Latin and Greek (protesting to the headmaster, a priest, his mother was told emphatically "geography is a girl's subject").

He had been named Getty Distinguished Scholar for 2008-9, and had planned to work on geography and art in Los Angeles.

[2][5] Cosgrove's research interests evolved from a focus on the meanings of landscape in human and cultural geography, especially in Western Europe since the 15th century, to a broader concern with the role of spatial images and representations in the making and communicating of knowledge.

[1] Following his death, he was widely recognised for his contribution to the field, including an extensive reflection on his career and research in the journal Cultural Geographies.

[1] The Centre for GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway, University of London holds an annual lecture in his honour.