Peter Scott

Scott was born in London at 174, Buckingham Palace Road, the only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his wife, Kathleen (née Edith Agnes Kathleen Bruce), a sculptor. He was only two years old when his father died. Robert Scott, in a last letter to his wife, advised her to "make the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better than games." He was named after Sir Clements Markham, mentor of Scott's polar expeditions, and a godfather along with J. M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan.

Kathleen Scott remarried in 1922. Her second husband, Hilton Young (later Lord Kennet), became stepfather to Peter. In 1923, Peter Scott's half-brother, Wayland Young, was born. Scott was educated at Oundle School and Trinity College, Cambridge, initially reading Natural Sciences but graduating in the History of Art in 1931. At Cambridge, he shared lodging with John Berry and the two shared many views.

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 for a year followed by studies at the Royal Academy Schools, London. One of the few non-wildlife paintings that he produced during his career, Dinghies Racing on Lake Ontario, is held by the Cambridge University Cruising Club.

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 wildfowling, sailing, gliding and ice skating. He represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at sailing at the 1936 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the O-Jolle monotype class. He also participated in the Prince of Wales Cup in 1938 during which he and his crew on the Thunder and Lightning dinghy designed a modified wearable harness (now known as a trapeze) that helped them win.

Scott married the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard in 1942 and had a daughter, Nicola, born a year later. Howard left Scott in 1946 and they were divorced in 1951.

In 1951, Scott married his assistant, Philippa Talbot-Ponsonby, 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. A son, Falcon, was born in 1954.

Scott shared a nanny (Enid) with Nigel Hadow and his son Pen Hadow.