Peter Scott
naval officer, broadcaster | |
---|---|
Known for | Conservation, WWT Slimbridge, painting, WWF |
Spouses | |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | Robert Falcon Scott Kathleen Bruce |
Relatives | Wayland Young, 2nd Baron Kennet (half-brother) |
Sir Peter Markham Scott,
He established the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge in 1946 and helped found the World Wide Fund for Nature, the logo of which he designed. He was a yachting enthusiast from an early age and took up gliding in mid-life. He was part of the UK team for the 1936 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in sailing a one-man dinghy. He was knighted in 1973 for his work in conservation of wild animals and was also a recipient of the WWF Gold Medal[1] and the J. Paul Getty Prize.
Early life
Scott was born in London at 174,
Kathleen Scott remarried in 1922. Her second husband,
As a student he was also an active member of the Cambridge University Cruising Club, sailing against Oxford in the 1929 and 1930 Varsity Matches. He studied art at the State Academy in Munich[6] for a year followed by studies at the Royal Academy Schools, London.[7] One of the few non-wildlife paintings that he produced during his career, 'Dinghies Racing on Lake Ontario',[8] is held by the Cambridge University Cruising Club.
Olympic medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's sailing | ||
1936 Berlin/Kiel | Monotype class |
Like his mother, he displayed a strong artistic talent and he became known as a painter of wildlife, particularly birds; he had his first exhibition in London in 1933. His wealthy background allowed him to follow his interests in art, wildlife and many sports, including
Military service
During the
Then he served in
Scott is credited with designing the Western Approaches ship camouflage scheme, which disguised ship superstructures. In July 1940, he managed to get the destroyer HMS Broke, in which he was serving, experimentally camouflaged, differently on the two sides. To starboard, the ship was painted blue-grey all over, but with white in naturally shadowed areas as countershading, following the ideas of Abbott Handerson Thayer from the First World War. To port, the ship was painted in "bright pale colours" to combine some disruption of shape with the ability to fade out during the night, again with shadowed areas painted white. However, he later wrote that compromise was fatal to camouflage, and that invisibility at night (by painting ships in white or other pale colours) had to be the sole objective. By May 1941, all ships in the Western Approaches (the North Atlantic) were ordered to be painted in Scott's camouflage scheme. The scheme was said to be so effective that several British ships including HMS Broke collided with each other. The effectiveness of Scott's and Thayer's ideas was demonstrated experimentally by the Leamington Camouflage Centre in 1941. Under a cloudy overcast sky, the tests showed that a white ship could approach six miles (9.6 km) closer than a black-painted ship before being seen.[14]
On 8 July 1941, it was announced that Scott had been
Postwar life
Scott stood as a
His BBC natural history series, Look, ran from 1955 to 1969 and made him a household name. It included the first BBC natural history film to be shown in colour, The Private Life of the Kingfisher (1968), which he narrated.[19] He wrote and illustrated several books on the subject, including his autobiography, The Eye of the Wind (1961). In the 1950s, he also appeared regularly on BBC radio's Children's Hour, in the series, "Nature Parliament".[20]
In the early 1950s, his designs, were used on a range of tableware, "Wild Geese", by Midwinter Pottery.[22][23]
Scott took up
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1956 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, London.[citation needed]
As a member of the
Scott was the founder President of the Society of Wildlife Artists and President of the Nature in Art Trust[26] (a role in which his wife Philippa succeeded him).[26] Scott tutored numerous artists including Paul Karslake.
From 1973 to 1983, Scott was Chancellor of the University of Birmingham. In 1979, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the University of Bath.[27]
Scott continued with his love of sailing, skippering the
He was one of the founders of the
Scott was a long-time vice-president of the British Naturalists' Association, whose Peter Scott Memorial Award was instituted after his death, to commemorate his achievements.[29]
He died of a heart attack on 29 August 1989 in Bristol, at age 79.[30]
Documentaries
Scott narrated Wild Wings, a 1966 British short documentary film, produced by British Transport Films. In 1967, it won an Oscar for Best Short Subject at the 39th Academy Awards.[31]
In August 1986, an ITV Special was transmitted by
In 1996 Scott's life and work in wildlife conservation was celebrated in a major BBC
In June 2004, Scott and Sir David Attenborough were jointly profiled in the second of a three-part BBC Two series, The Way We Went Wild, about television wildlife presenters and were described as being largely responsible for the way that the British and much of the world view wildlife.
Scott's life was also the subject of a BBC Four documentary called Peter Scott – A Passion for Nature produced in 2006 by Available Light Productions (Bristol).[32]
Loch Ness Monster
In 1962, he co-founded the
Personal life
Scott married the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard in 1942 and had a daughter, Nicola, born a year later.[36] Howard left Scott in 1946 and they were divorced in 1951.[37]
In 1951, Scott married his assistant, Philippa Talbot-Ponsonby,[37] while on an expedition to Iceland in search of the breeding grounds of the pink-footed goose. A daughter, Dafila, was born later in the same year (dafila is the old scientific name for a pintail). She, too, became an artist, painting birds.[38] A son, Falcon, was born in 1954.[39]
Civilian honours
Having been appointed a military MBE in the
Legacy
The fish Scotts' wrasse Cirrhilabrus scottorum was named after Peter and Philippa Scott for their “great contribution in nature conservation".[44]
The Peter Scott Walk[45][46] passes the mouth of the River Nene and follows the old sea bank along The Wash, from Scott's lighthouse near Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire to the ferry crossing at King's Lynn.
The Sir Peter Scott National Park is located in central
Bibliography
- Morning flight. Country Life, London 1936–44.
- Wild chorus. Country Life, London 1939.
- Through the Air. (with Michael Bratby). Country Life, London 1941.
- The battle of the narrow seas. Country Life, White Lion & Scribners, London, New York 1945–74. ISBN 0-85617-788-1
- Portrait drawings. Country Life, London 1949.
- Key to the wildfowl of the world. Slimbridge 1950.
- Wild geese and Eskimos. Country Life & Scribner, London, New York 1951.
- A thousand geese. Collins, Houghton & Mifflin, London, Boston 1953/54.
- A coloured key to the wildfowl of the world. Royle & Scribner, London, New York 1957–88.
- Wildfowl of the British Isles. Country Life, London 1957.
- The eye of the wind. (autobiography) Hodder, Stoughton & Brockhampton, London, Leicester 1961–77. ISBN 0-340-21515-1
- Animals in Africa. Potter & Cassell, New York, London 1962–65.
- My favourite stories of wild life. Lutterworth 1965.
- Our vanishing wildlife. Doubleday, Garden City 1966.
- Happy the man. Sphere, London 1967.
- Atlas en couleur des anatidés du monde. Le Bélier-Prisma, Paris 1970.
- The wild swans at Slimbridge. Slimbridge 1970.
- The swans. Joseph, Houghton & Mifflin, London, Boston 1972. ISBN 0-7181-0707-1
- The amazing world of animals. Nelson, Sunbury-on-Thames 1976. ISBN 0-17-149046-0
- Observations of wildlife. Phaidon & Cornell, Oxford, Ithaca 1980. ISBN 0-8014-1341-9
- Travel diaries of a naturalist. Collins, London. 3 vols: 1983, 1985, 1987. ISBN 0-00-219554-2
- The crisis of the University. ISBN 0-7099-3310-X
- Conservation of island birds. Cambridge 1985. ISBN 0-946888-04-3
- The art of Peter Scott. ISBN 1-85619-100-1
Forewords
- The Red Book – Wildlife in Danger James Fisher, Noel Simon & Jack Vincent, Collins, 1969
- The acknowledgments in this book credit Scott with originating the idea behind it
- George Edward Lodge – Unpublished Bird Paintings C.A. Fleming (ISBN 0-7181-2212-7
Illustrations
- Christian, Garth (1961). Down the Long Wind – a study of bird migration. London: Newnes. pp. 240 p. : illus, 23 cm.
- Waterfowl of the World – with Jean Delacour, Country Life 1954
- Gallico, Paul (1946), The Snow Goose, Michael Joseph, London. Four full-page colour paintings, plus numerous black-and-white line drawings.
Films
Further reading
- The Wild Geese of the Newgrounds by Paul Walkden. Published by the Friends of WWT Slimbridge, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9561070-0-8. Illustrated with colour plates and ink drawing by Peter Scott. Includes chronology.
- Peter Scott. Collected Writings 1933–1989. Compiled by Paul Walkden. Published by The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust 2016. Hardback ISBN 978-0-900806-70-4. Includes Chronology and Bibliography. Illustrated with photos and b/w illustrations.
References
- ^ "WWF Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Award". World Wide Fund For Nature. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ^ Scott's Last Expedition, Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1913 OCLC 15522514
- ^ [1] Archived 9 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine Robert Falcon Scott's letter to his widow.
- ^ Scott (1966):22.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Scott (1966): 83-90.
- ^ Scott (1966): 91-99.
- ^ Sir Peter Scott's painting of sailing dinghies, cucrc.org. Accessed 19 April 2024.
- ^ [2] Archived 16 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Photo of Peter Scott receiving his bronze medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- ^ Scott (1966): 123-129.
- ^ Scott (1966): 139-142.
- ^ Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Dunkirk Fight to the Last Man Viking, 2006
- ^ BBC WW2 Peoples War Archived 1 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine accessed 11 December 2007
- Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage. Yale. Pages 172–173.
- ^ "No. 35212". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 July 1941. p. 3916.
- ^ "No. 35729". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 October 1942. p. 4324.
- ^ "No. 36038". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 May 1943. pp. 2525–2526.
- ^ a b "No. 35586". The London Gazette. 5 June 1942. pp. 2481–2482.
- ^ "The Private Life of the Kingfisher". Countryfile. 14 October 2012. BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ V&A exhibit label
- ^ "Wild Geese". V&A Museum. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
- ^ "Vintage 1950s Midwinter Pottery Wild Geese Tea Service Pieces designed by Peter Scott". Clutterfingers Vintage & Retro. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
- ^ "BGA".
- ISSN 1365-3008.
- ^ a b "Nature in Art Trust". Nature in Art Trust. Archived from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
- ^ "Honorary Graduates 1989 to present". bath.ac.uk. University of Bath. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- ^ [3] World Sailing history page containing list of Presidents 1946 t0 date.
- ^ "Awards – British Naturalists' Association". Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Sir Peter Scott". Singapore Tatler (November 1989): 117–119.
- ^ FilmAffinity
- ^ "Peter Scott: A Passion for Nature – BBC Four". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
- ISBN 0-252-01284-4
- doi:10.1038/258466a0
- ^ Article, "Monster Hoax?", in New Scientist, Christmas Double Issue, Volume 68, Number 980, page 739 (18–25 December 1975).
- ^ Elizabeth Jane Howard. Slipstream, Macmillan, 2002, page 134
- ^ a b Elizabeth Jane Howard. Slipstream, Macmillan, 2002, page 219
- ^ [4] Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Philippa Scott obituary, The Guardian, Sunday 10 January 2010
- ^ "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 May 1953. pp. 2953–2956.
- ^ "No. 45923". The London Gazette. 6 March 1973. p. 2989.
- ^ "No. 50948". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1987. p. 16.
- S2CID 251071319.
- ^ "Order LABRIFORMES: Family LABRIDAE (A-h)". 16 June 2020.
- ^ "Sir Peter Scott Walk on the Visit West Norfolk website". Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- ^ Sir Peter Scott Walk on the ...LDWA website
- ^ "Sir Peter Scott Bird Hospital". Retrieved 14 July 2022.
Autobiography
- Scott, Peter (1966). The Eye of the Wind. An Autobiography (2 ed.). Hodder & Stoughton.