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

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.^{[citation needed]}

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]

References

1. "The Cloudspotter's Guide". Conville and Walsh.
2. "George W. Haight". The New York Times. 14 August 1983.
3. "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. "The joy of cloudspotting: 10 incredible visions in clouds". TED Blog. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
6. "Expert in idleness is surprise winner of science book prize", The Independent, 18 November 2011
7. "The Wavewatcher's Companion".
8. "Daily Telegraph review". The Daily Telegraph. London. 13 June 2010.
9. "Cloudspotting". BBC.
10. "The Secret Life of Waves". BBC.

External links

• Cloud Appreciation Society
• The Idler magazine