32 Facts About Colin Wyatt

Colin Wyatt was a British ski-racer, ski-jumper and ski mountaineer; artist; lepidopterist; author, photographer and thief.

Colin Wyatt attended Le Rosey school, Switzerland and a crammer's before going to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Colin Wyatt achieved national and international recognition as a ski jumper and cross-country skier, and as a ski-racer in the newly-developing categories of slalom and downhill.

Colin Wyatt was invited, as a winter sports expert, to New Zealand to advise on the development of ski sports and tourism.

Colin Wyatt had successful solo exhibitions as an artist but ceased painting after World War II and turned to making a living from writing, photography, and documentary films related to his travels.

Colin Wyatt created a very large private collection of mainly Holarctic butterflies.

In 1975, while on his way to a then little-known and unexcavated pre-Columbian site in Guatemala, Colin Wyatt died in an airplane crash in the mountains.

Colin Wyatt was the son of James William Wyatt, a civil engineer, mountaineer, lepidopterist and botanist, of Bryn Gwynant, Beddgelert, North Wales and Margaret Ellen Nicol, of Ardmarnock, Tighnabruaich, Argyllshire, Scotland.

Colin Wyatt was an only child and was introduced by his father to botany and entomology when a very young boy, as well as to ski-ing and climbing.

Colin Wyatt captained the Cambridge Ski and Ski Jumping Clubs and represented GB as a ski jumper on numerous occasions in Europe.

In 1933, Colin Wyatt was the first English competitor to take part in the Holmenkollen ski-jumping contest, in Norway.

Colin Wyatt took part in the first international slalom and downhill contest to be held in Norway, coming 1st in slalom, and 5th in downhill.

Colin Wyatt achieved an entry in the Guinness Book of Records with the most wins in the British Ski Jumping Championships with three: in 1931,1934 and 1936.

In 1936 Colin 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 visit all the ski-ing centres and advise on ski-ing development and competitions and the development of winter resorts.

Colin Wyatt submitted a list of mountaineering travels from 1930 to 1950 to the Royal Geographical Society in support of his successful candidacy to become a Fellow.

Colin Wyatt describes Wyatt as "the outstanding British ski mountaineer of the immediate pre- and post-war years".

Hamlin's 2022 film "The Arctic 12" paid tribute to Colin Wyatt, and included some of Colin Wyatt's photographs.

Colin Wyatt sent frequent reports to The Alpine Ski Club in London.

Colin Wyatt attended the County Council Central School of Art and the Slade School of Art, London, and the Academic Decluse, Paris.

Colin Wyatt attended the Grosvenor School of Art, with tutors Claude Flight and Iain McNab.

Colin Wyatt exhibited linocuts, oils and watercolours, and pen and ink sketches undertaken during World War II service with the Royal Australian Air Force in the South West Pacific.

In 1960, on an expedition to Afghanistan and the Koh-i-Baba mountains and the Hindu-Kush, Colin Wyatt rediscovered one of the rarest Asiatic mountain butterflies, Parnassius autocrator.

Colin Wyatt's field collecting involved travelling far off the beaten track and using his ski mountaineering skills.

Colin Wyatt co-operated fully with police and most of the stolen specimens were recovered.

Colin Wyatt published articles, illustrated by his photographs, in English and in other languages, in magazines and journals in different countries.

Colin Wyatt lectured with these films throughout the USA and was a guest lecturer on specialist travel trips such as Swan Hellenic.

Colin Wyatt made radio broadcasts relating to his travels, including BBC radio.

Colin Wyatt married Mary Scott Barrett, of Kingswood, Surrey, in June 1939 and emigrated to Sydney, Australia with the aim of pursuing his art career and trying sheep farming.

Colin Wyatt became a Buddhist through his friendship with Christmas Humphreys QC, who founded the London Buddhist Lodge, which later changed its name to The Buddhist Society.

Colin Wyatt learned a range of languages and regional dialects, including fluent and colloquial French, German, Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian.

Colin Wyatt picked up sufficient knowledge of other languages, including Arabic, to get by during his extensive travels to many parts of the world.

Colin Wyatt was invited to yodel and play the accordion before the then Prince of Wales, later Duke of Windsor, at Oxford and before the King and Queen of Norway when he visited that country in 1933.