Gavin Pretor-Pinney Explained

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

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

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.

Awards and honours

• 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, winner, The Wavewatcher's Companion^[6]

Works

• 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

• Presented on BBC TV: Cloudspotting^[9]
• Appeared on BBC TV: The Secret Life of Waves^[10]

External links

• Cloud Appreciation Society
• The Idler magazine

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Cloudspotter's Guide. Conville and Walsh. 8 June 2009. 5 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151005164810/http://www.convilleandwalsh.com/index.php/authors/author/gavin-pretor-pinney/. dead.
2. News: George W. Haight. The New York Times. 14 August 1983.
3. Web site: Somerton Erleigh, Somerton - 1406542 | Historic England.
4. 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
5. News: The joy of cloudspotting: 10 incredible visions in clouds. 2013-07-16. TED Blog. 2018-10-07. en-US.
6. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/expert-in-idleness-is-surprise-winner-of-science-book-prize-6264095.html "Expert in idleness is surprise winner of science book prize"
7. Web site: The Wavewatcher's Companion . 6 February 2011 . 10 September 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160910021721/https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/wavewatchers-companion/ . dead .
8. News: Daily Telegraph review . London . The Daily Telegraph . 13 June 2010.
9. Web site: Cloudspotting . BBC.
10. Web site: The Secret Life of Waves . BBC.