Gavin Pretor-Pinney
![]() |
Gavin Edmund Pretor-Pinney is a British author,[1] known for his books The Cloudspotter's Guide and The Wavewatcher's Companion.
Early life and education[edit]
Pretor-Pinney is son of Anthony Robert Edmund Pretor-Pinney and Laura Uppercu, daughter of George Winthrop Haight, of Manhattan, observer for the American Bar Association and a specialist in international law.[2] The Pretor-Pinney family were landowners at Somerton, Somerset since the 1800s, descendants of the sugar merchant and Mayor of Bristol Charles Pinney; Anthony Pretor-Pinney had Somerton Erleigh, named for the family's former house on a different part of the estate, built in 1972–3.[3][4]
Pretor-Pinney attended Westminster School, the University of Oxford, and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Career[edit]
He co-founded the magazine The Idler and founded the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2004.[5] He grew up in West London and now also lives in Somerton, Somerset.[citation needed]
Awards and honours[edit]
- 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, winner, The Wavewatcher's Companion[6]
Works[edit]
- The Cloudspotter's Guide (2006)[1]
- The Cloud Collector's Handbook (2006)
- A Pig with Six Legs and Other Clouds (2007)
- The Wavewatcher's Companion (2010)[7][8]
- The Ukulele Handbook (September 2013; co-written with Tom Hodgkinson)
- A Cloud A Day (2019)
Television appearances[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "The Cloudspotter's Guide". Conville and Walsh.
- ^ "George W. Haight". The New York Times. 14 August 1983.
- ^ "Somerton Erleigh, Somerton - 1406542 | Historic England".
- ^ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, seventh edition, vol. II, Sir Bernard Burke, Harrison and Sons, 1886, p. 1467
- ^ "The joy of cloudspotting: 10 incredible visions in clouds". TED Blog. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- ^ "Expert in idleness is surprise winner of science book prize", The Independent, 18 November 2011
- ^ "The Wavewatcher's Companion".
- ^ "Daily Telegraph review". The Daily Telegraph. London. 13 June 2010.
- ^ "Cloudspotting". BBC.
- ^ "The Secret Life of Waves". BBC.
External links[edit]