Gavin Pretor-Pinney

Gavin Edmund Pretor-Pinney is a British author, 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. 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.

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. 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

Works

 * The Cloudspotter's Guide (2006)
 * The Cloud Collector's Handbook (2006)
 * A Pig with Six Legs and Other Clouds (2007)
 * The Wavewatcher's Companion (2010)
 * The Ukulele Handbook (September 2013; co-written with Tom Hodgkinson)
 * A Cloud A Day (2019)

Television appearances

 * Presented on BBC TV: Cloudspotting
 * Appeared on BBC TV: The Secret Life of Waves