Draft:Colin William Wyatt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Comment: Per editors user page "IonaFyne represents a journalist writing for the estate of the subject." Please clarify whether you are being paid. Theroadislong (talk) 20:43, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Reads like a family history project and t is not entirely clear what makes them notable in Wikipedia terms. Theroadislong (talk) 06:29, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Gigantic lists of publications,papers, articles etc is not helpful. Theroadislong (talk) 17:32, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Most of these sources are his own works...they are not required, we need to see what independent sources say about him. Theroadislong (talk) 15:09, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: You are writing this WP:BACKWARDS You should gather the published sources and report on what they say, NOT what you know through your connection. "His travels are chronicled in photograph albums owned by his estate," is irrelevant as they have not been published. Theroadislong (talk) 13:26, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: which part of "no external links in the body of an article" do you not understand? Please stop adding them. Theroadislong (talk) 18:39, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Please note we don't use external links in the body of an article. Theroadislong (talk) 17:21, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: sources need to be independent of him. Theroadislong (talk) 15:02, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

I am omitting these and giving just a few examples.Understood now and being removed.Understood and removed.Other Wikipedia entries confused me; think I have removed all such links now.See above.See above.


Colin William Wyatt
CountryBritish
Born8 February 1909
Marylebone, London, United Kingdom
Died18 November 1975(1975-11-18) (aged 66)
Guatemala, Central America


Colin Wyatt, FRGS (8 February 1909 – 18 November 1975) was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in October 1950. He had a variety of specialised interests. A British champion ski-racer, ski-jumper and ski mountaineer, he also was an artist who exhibited in England, Australia and Canada. He was a lepidopterist and field collector, with a private collection, now in the Karslruhe Museum, Germany.[1]. Wyatt was fined for the theft of butterfly specimens from two Australian museums. He was a published writer, photographer and documentary film-maker and lecturer.

Born in England, Wyatt emigrated to Australia in 1939. During World War II, he worked for the Department of Home Security and served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a camouflage expert.

After World War II, Wyatt lived in Canada and England.

Family, education and early life[edit]

Colin William fforde Wyatt was born in Marylebone, London, the son of James William Wyatt[2], a civil engineer, mountaineer[3], lepidopterist and botanist, of Bryn Gwynant, Beddgelert, North Wales (of the Wyatt line of architects and land agents[4]), and Margaret Ellen Nicol, of Ardmarnock, Tighnabruaich, Argyllshire, Scotland (only daughter of Donald Ninian Nicol, MP)[5]. He was an only child. At the age of 10, he contracted bronchial pneumonia and his mother took him to the Swiss Alps where he recovered. He attended Le Rosey school, Switzerland and studied painting in Paris before going to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge to read modern languages.[6] He captained the Cambridge Ski Club and Cambridge Ski Jumping Club[7].

In 1939 Wyatt married and emigrated to Sydney, Australia. In 1951 Wyatt married for a second time and emigrated to Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Ski-ing[edit]

In downhill, jumping, slalom and cross-country ski-ing, Wyatt won numerous cups and medals during the 1920s and early 1930s. Newspaper sports results covered the Oxford and Cambridge races, Inter Varsity Winter Sports Games[8], European Ski Championships, Anglo-Swiss Universities' races, International University Winter Games[9], and Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) championships[10].

Arnold Lunn, founder in 1908 of the Alpine Ski Club, wrote in 1929 of the British taking part in long distance, jumping, slalom and downhill, and said: "The best all-round performance was that of Colin Wyatt, who distinguished himself in all four events."[11]

He captained Cambridge University ski team twice [12]and represented GB as a ski jumper on numerous occasions, including Norwegian ski championships and European ski championships.

In 1933, Wyatt was the first English competitor to take part in the famous Holmenkollen ski-jumping contest, in Norway.[13] He took part in the first international slalom and downhill contest to be held in Norway, coming 1st in slalom, and 4th in downhill.[14]

He broke the British ski-jumping record three times (1928, 1929, 1931) and achieved the most wins in the British Ski Jumping Championships (discontinued in 1936) in 1931, 1934 and 1936. Wyatt set the official British record of 57m (187ft) in 1931. This achievement remained in the Guinness Book of Records for decades.[15] Tim Ashburner, in his book "The History of Ski Jumping," writes of Wyatt's jumping achievements as one of Britain's first 50-metre ski jumpers in the early 1930s.

In the In Memoriam section in Ski Survey, published by the Ski Club of Great Britain, fellow Cambridge ski team member James Riddell wrote of him as "someone utterly unorthodox, bohemian, versatile, controversial, unpredictable".

In 1936 Wyatt was invited, as council delegate of Ski Club of Great Britain, by the New Zealand government and the Federated Council of New Zealand Alpine Clubs to to visit all the ski-ing centres and advise on ski-ing development and competitions and the development of winter resorts.[16]

Travels, climbing and ski-mountaineering[edit]

Colin Wyatt's achievements in ski-mountaineering include being the first to make the double winter ski traverse of the 12,000ft Main Divide of the New Zealand Southern Alps (1936-37); the first to cross Lapland on ski in the winter from Kebnekaise to North Cape, 350 miles (1938); and the first to make the first crossing of the Tiferdine - m’Goun ranges (13,000ft) in the Central High Atlas of Morocco to the Sahara (1950).

John Harding, in his 2016 book "Distant Snows: A Mountaineer's Odyssey", refers to Wyatt as "a forgotten pioneer ski mountaineer" and writes that "Wyatt's exceptional ski mountaineering achievements have all but been forgotten."[17] In an article in the Alpine Journal in 1988 titled Ski Mountaineering IS Mountaineering, Harding wrote of the 1930s as an era of animosity between traditional British climbers and those embracing "the new-fangled sport of ski-ing and, by extension, ski mountaineering". He describes Wyatt as "the outstanding British ski mountaineer of the immediate pre- and post-war years" and describes how Wyatt undertook ski mountaineering journeys to what were then wild parts of the world. He comments on how Wyatt's "achievements went largely unrecognised."[18]

His list of mountaineering travels 1930 to 1950, submitted to the Royal Geographical Society in support of his candidacy to become a fellow, include various summer and winter climbs in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, on foot, on ski, or both; Norway; Albania; Canada; Papua New Guinea; New Zealand; Lapland; Australia; Morocco.

In 1936-1937 in New Zealand, Southern Alps, Wyatt made the first ascent Mt. Wilycek (10,001ft); the first double winter ski traverse of Main Divide, via Tasman, Franz Josef, Fox and Haest glaciers and the first winter ascent of Mt. Annan. In North Island, he made a winter traverse of all Ruapehu-Tongariro group of volcanoes, and winter traverse of Mt. Egmont.

In 1938 in Lapland, he made the complete winter crossing of Lapland on ski from Kebnekaise to North Cape, 350 miles.

In 2021, Darren Hamlin, photographer and film-maker, and a team were planning to make a film of a winter crossing of the Kebnekaise[19]. During research, he came across Wyatt's November 1938 article "On Ski through Arctic Lapland to the North Cape" in The Alpine Journal and realised that their winter crossing would not be the first. Hamlin's 2022 film "The Arctic 12" paid tribute to Wyatt, and included some of Wyatt's photographs.

In 1949 Morocco, North Africa, he made the complete traverse of the Toubkal Range, High Atlas, in winter (13,000ft) with several first winter ascents[20] and in 1950 he made the first crossing of Tiferdine and M’Goun (13,000ft) ranges, to Sahara, in almost unknown country, E. High Atlas (and spent five months painting in Morocco).

Further travels included seven months travelling the Northwest Territories, Canada; and trips to Kashmir, Nepal, India, Himalayas, Afghanistan, Afghan Hindu-Kush, High Atlas Morocco, Kara-Dagh and Elburs in Azerbaijan, north-western Iran. Post 1966, he travelled regularly to Canada and the USA as well as Europe, and up to his death in Guatemala was making regular trips to study and photograph archaeological sites in Central and South America.

Art work[edit]

He attended the County Council Central School of Art and the Slade School of Art, London, and the Academic Decluse, Paris. [21] He also attended the Grosvenor School of Art, with tutors Claude Flight and Iain McNab. [22] He made a few works of sculpture.

Between 1928 and 1941, his work was exhibited at the Paris Salon; The Alpine Club[23]; St Moritz, Switzerland[24]; “Grubb Group” exhibition at Quo Vadis Restaurant[25]; Connell Galleries, 47 Old Bond Street, London[26]; Grosvenor School of Modern Art at Storran Gallery;  Contemporary Art Society’s 3rd annual exhibition, Sydney[27]

One-man exhibitions[edit]

  • 1932                       Alpine Club Gallery[28]
  • 1934                       Alpine Club Gallery, Connell Galleries, 47 Old Bond Street[29]
  • 1938                       Palser Galleries, London[30]
  • 1944                       MacQuarie Galleries, Australia[31]
  • 1947                       Walker's Galleries, Bond Street, London[32]
  • 1954                       Coste House, Calgary, Canada

Online exhibition[edit]

2018 Louise Kosman Art[33]

Lepidoptery[edit]

As an entomologist and field collector, Wyatt specialised in butterflies of the northern hemisphere (Alpine and Arctic especially), discovering new species and sub-species,[34] and writing numerous scientific papers and articles for entomological magazines worldwide in various languages.  In 1960, on an expedition to Afghanistan and the Koh-i-Baba mountains and the Hindu-Kush, Wyatt rediscovered one of the rarest Asiatic mountain butterflies, Parnassius autocrator.[35] The results of his expeditions to this area and also to Kashmir, Nepal up to Mount Everest and Mount Annapurna, and also Sikkim, have been published in the journal of the Lepidopterists' Society.

His field collecting involved travelling far off the beaten track and using his ski mountaineering skills; he always took his butterfly net when travelling. For example, in 1950 he was crossing the m'Goun range of the High Atlas in Morocco as an alpinist, on skis. At 13,000ft he noticed a migration of Pieris daplidice (L.) passing over from the Sahara, from south to north, and other migratory species.[36]

As well as describing species and sub-species new to science, he studied complicated butterfly relationships. His particular interests included Apollo and Erebia. He had a private collections of butterflies, and, on his death, it was acquired in its entirety by the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe, Germany[37].

An article in the journal Bonner Zoologische Beiträge [38] by Otakar Kudrna includes an annotated list of the butterflies named by Colin W. Wyatt.

In May 1947, in London (West Ham), he pleaded guilty to stealing butterfly specimens from the Australian Museum, Sydney,[39] and the South Australia Museum, Adelaide, and was fined. His legal defence referred to the break-up of his first marriage on his return from being in the RAAF in the South West Pacific during World War II, and, to quote The Sydney Morning Herald of 21 May, 1947, “not in full command of his faculties”. The court case was well-covered in newspapers at the time. Wyatt co-operated fully with police and most of the stolen specimens were recovered.[40] An article in the journal Australian Entomologist[41] by W. John Tennent, Chris J. Müller, Axel Hausmann and Simon Hinkley specifically discusses these thefts.

Published works[edit]

Books[edit]

1952    The Call of The Mountains; published by Thames and Hudson, London, also MacMillan, Canada, and 1953 New York.

1955    Going Wild (subtitled: The Autobiography of a Bug-Hunter); published by Hollis and Carter, London; also published in Colombo, Ceylon and Spain.

1958    North of Sixty; published by Hodder and Stoughton, London.

Articles and photographs[edit]

He published articles, illustrated by his photographs, in English and in other languages, in magazines and journals in different countries. Country Life, in particular, published many of his travel articles. He also sold photographs to similar publications worldwide.

His articles on ski-ing, ski-mountaineering and climbing include:

1937 "Ski-Mountaineering in New Zealand". The Alpine Journal. XLIX (254): 87-101

1942 "The Western Face of the Main Range". Australian and New Zealand Ski Year Book: 16-19; also 27-30

1951 "The First Crossing of the m'Goun Massif (13,434ft) in the Moroccan High Atlas". The British Ski Year Book. XIV (32): 308-317

Films, lectures and broadcasts[edit]

Wyatt made documentary films including Nepal: Hidden Kingdom of the Himalayas (1958)[42] and Hindustan Holiday/India Holiday (1959), which were shown on TV in the USA and other countries.[43] He lectured with these films throughout the USA and was a guest lecturer on specialist travel trips such as Swan Hellenic.[44] He also made radio broadcasts relating to his travels, including BBC radio (UK).[45]

Clubs and societies[edit]

Elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in October 1950[46]; member of the Alpine Ski Club[47] and Swiss Alpine Club[48]; member of The Buddhist Society[49]; former member of Ski Club of Great Britain[50]; member of the British Langlauf Club[51]; former member of N.S.W. Ski Council Ski Club of Victoria, Ski Council of Tasmania and Ski Council of the Federated N.Z. Mountain Clubs[52].

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Butterflies and moths (lepidoptera)". NaturkundeMuseum Karlsruhe. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  2. ^ "James William Wyatt - Graces Guide". www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  3. ^ Strutt, E.L. (May 1940). "In Memoriam". The Alpine Journal. LII (260): 117–119.
  4. ^ Robinson, John Martin (1979). The Wyatts, An Architectural Dynasty. United States: Oxford University Press. pp. 137–140. ISBN 0-19-817340-7.
  5. ^ "Donald Nicol (MP)", Wikipedia, 2023-02-07, retrieved 2023-05-12
  6. ^ F.J.P. (1929). "The Blues". The Caian. XXXVIII (1): 4–6.
  7. ^ Our Special Correspondent (23 December 1929). "University Ski Races". The Morning Post.
  8. ^ Our Special Correspondent (23 December 1929). "University Ski Races". The Morning Post.
  9. ^ "University Winter Games". Irish Times. January 1930.
  10. ^ "F.I.S. Rennen in Oberhof". Sport. February 1931.
  11. ^ Lunn, Arnold (2 January 1929). "Unknown". The Field.
  12. ^ Unknown (18 January 1937). "Noted British Skier". The Border Morning Mail (Australia).
  13. ^ Unknown (28 February 1933). "Englands første deltager i Holmenkollrennet i Oslo". Aftenposten.
  14. ^ Unknown (24 March 1933). "Winning a Slalom". The Daily Mail.
  15. ^ Guinness Book of Records (4th ed.). United Kingdom: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. 1960.
  16. ^ "Ski-ing in the Dominion, Visit of Expert from England". The Press (Christchurch, N.Z.). 20 July 1936.
  17. ^ Harding, John G R (2016). Distant Snows A Mountaineer's Odyssey. Baton Wicks Publications. ISBN 9781898573784.
  18. ^ Harding, JGR (1988). "Ski Mountaineering is Mountaineering". The Alpine Journal: 140–145.
  19. ^ "Darren Hamlin Photography". Darren Hamlin. 16 August 2023.
  20. ^ Unknown (2 April 1949). "Six Alpinistes a l'Assaut du Mont Toubkal". Le Maroc.
  21. ^ Unknown (24 November 1954). "Footloose Free-Lancer Exhibits Paintings Here". Calgary Herald.
  22. ^ "Sports". www.art-angels.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  23. ^ Our Art Critic (13 December 1930). "Alpine Paintings: Sublimity and Drama of Mountain Peaks". The Morning Post.
  24. ^ Unknown (December 1931). "Artist Winter Sportsman". Daily Mail, Paris.
  25. ^ Unknown (13 June 1933). "Grubb Group". Yorkshire Post.
  26. ^ Our Art Critic (21 November 1934). "Art Exhibitions". Morning Post.
  27. ^ Unknown (21 September 1941). "Pictures that startled Sydney". Sunday Telegraph Pictorial. p. 2.
  28. ^ Tatlock, R.R. (22 November 1932). "Alpine Club Gallery: The Work of Colin Wyatt: Pictures & Drawings". The Daily Telegraph.
  29. ^ Unknown (27 November 1934). "Sculptor and Skier". The Glasgow Herald.
  30. ^ Jeannerat, Pierre (25 October 1938). "Artist in Santa Claus Land". Daily Mail.
  31. ^ The Macquarie Galleries, 19 Blight Street, Sydney; catalogue "An Exhibition of Sketches of New Guinea and The Trobriand Islands" by Colin Wyatt; March 1944
  32. ^ Walker's Galleries, 118 New Bond Street, London W1; invitation to "An Exhibition of Water-Colours and Drawings of New Guinea" by Colin Wyatt; December 1947
  33. ^ Kosman (2018). "Colin fforde Wyatt 1909-1975".
  34. ^ Wyatt, Colin (1961). "Additions to the Rhopalocera of Afghanistan with descriptions of new species and subspecies". Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 15 (1): 1–18.
  35. ^ Wyatt Colin, Omoto Kei-ichi (1963). "Auf der Jagd nach Parnassius autocrator Avin". Zeitschrift der Wiener Entomologischen Gesellschaft. 48: 163–170.
  36. ^ Wyatt, Colin (1950). "Field Notes: Migration in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco". The Lepidopterists' News. IV (6–7): 72.
  37. ^ "Collections". The State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe. 16 August 2023.
  38. ^ Kudrna, Otakar (1981). "An annotated list of the butterflies named by Colin W. Wyatt (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea, Hesperioidea)". Bonner Zoologische Beiträge. 32: 221–236 – via Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn.
  39. ^ Walker, Prue (1 February 2024). "Australian Museum timeline". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  40. ^ Our staff correspondent, and A.A.P. (22 May 1947). "Butterfly theft: Colin Wyatt fined" (PDF). The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  41. ^ Tennent, W. John; Müller, Chris J.; Hausmann, Axel; Hinkley, Simon (19 April 2024). "From München to Melbourne: Repatriation of a butterfly holotype stolen by the infamous Colin Wyatt almost 80 years ago". Australian Entomologist. 51 (1): 43–55.
  42. ^ Unknown (1–3 January 1960). "Film Lecture Brings Nepal Festival View". Waikiki Beach Press.
  43. ^ W.F. and R.K. Swan (Hellenic) Ltd brochure "India with Nepal, Sikkim and Sri Lanka Swans Art Treasures Tours" 1976 1977
  44. ^ W.F. and R.K. Swan (Hellenic) Ltd brochure "India with Nepal, Sikkim and Sri Lanka Swans Art Treasures Tours" 1976 1977
  45. ^ "Radio Times 21 July 1969". BBC Programme Index (Radio 4 FM). 29 January 2024.
  46. ^ RGS/Fellowship Certificates – Colin Wyatt Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) https://www.rgs.com
  47. ^ Wyatt, Colin (1955). "How the Eskimos Build an Igloo". The British Ski Year Book. XVI (36): 222–224.
  48. ^ Ashburner, Tim (2003). The History of Ski Jumping. Shewsbury, England: The Quiller Press. p. 71. ISBN 1-904057-15-2.
  49. ^ Humphreys, Christmas (February 1976). "Colin Wyatt". The Middle Way Journal of the Buddhist Society. L (4): 193.
  50. ^ "Ski-ing in the Dominion; Visit of Expert from England". The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand). 20 July 1936.
  51. ^ Keiller, Alexander (1928). "Constitution of the Committee of the B.L.C.". The Annual Publications of the British Ski Jumping Club and the British Langlauf Club. 1 (1): 8.
  52. ^ "Editorial Notes". Ski Year Book Australia and New Zealand: 10. 1942.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Colin_William_Wyatt&oldid=1224003218"