 He also authored mini-history books for children on the 15th and 16th-century nautical explorers John Cabot and Ferdinand Magellan.He suffered from emphysema in his final years, and died at the age of sixty two from pneumonia at the East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, in the county of Surrey on 29 May 2007.Bastable was a qualified cricket umpire and founded the Institute of Cricket Umpires and Scorers.