Books We Love Insider Blog: Connections by June Gadsby

While doing some research on my family tree and coming up with quite a few surprising connections, it struck me that ‘connections’ came in all shapes and sizes and were not necessarily those of relatives or ancestors.

I have one non-family connection of which I am immensely proud. It goes back to Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO, RN, who was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer and led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition. A famous explorer who took a group of men to the South Pole in 1912. They discovered, during this expedition, fossilised plants, which proved that Antarctica was once forested and attached to other continents. Unfortunately, the return journey came to a tragic and unnecessary end. Scott and his companions died only 11 miles from a depot that would have saved their lives.

So, you are wondering, what is my ‘connection’ with the famous Captain Robert Falcon Scott. It was with his only son, Peter, later to become Sir Peter Scott, famous naturalist, writer and artist who founded the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Peter had been many things before becoming a naturalist, including an Olympic ice skater, yachtsman and, ironically, a hunter – which he soon gave up when he discovered his love of wildlife, especially birds. When I met and married my husband, Brian, he worked for Sir Peter as Manager of the Washington branch of the WWT. [The original Washington in the north-east of England, rather than the Washington in the USA, where our mail very often ended up.] HRH Prince Charles, whom I have also met twice, was at the time President of the charity, which has been and still is largely supported by the Royal Family.

My first meeting with Sir Peter and his wife Lady Philippa was a memorable occasion. They were not only visiting the wildfowl park that my husband managed, they were to have a meal in our house on the edge of the 100-acre piece of land that housed 1200 rare species of wildfowl. I rushed home from the hospital where I worked in order to smarten myself up and prepare the meal. I was in my slip when I heard a huge crash coming from the kitchen. A cabinet full of my collection of Bronte pottery had fallen from the wall, knocked a tea-caddy and a kettle full of water onto the floor making a terrible, brown gunge. Sir Peter and Lady Philippa were due to arrive in a few minutes, and, in fact, we were still clearing up the mess when they joined us. It was a very embarrassing situation, but bless them, they were sympathetic and we eventually enjoyed a good meal together. It turned out to be a lovely social occasion. [1]

Sir Peter had a great sense of humour – he loved playing practical jokes on his colleagues and was famous for his odd choice of brightly coloured socks. Lady Philippa was charming, which is how we found all the VIPs we met during this period of our lives.

One memory I have is of Sir Peter walking into our kitchen while I was painting a bird portrait. I had heard how he had a habit of altering other people’s paintings. This was affectionately known as ‘Scottying’ and I held my breath, waiting for this to happen to my work. However, he was extremely kind in his praise for my little bird [2] and didn’t offer to change it in any way. I was both thrilled and disappointed. I would have loved him to ‘Scotty’ my painting. Sir Peter Scott’s paintings now sell for thousands of pounds. Unfortunately, we only have signed prints of his work and no originals. However, we did have the honour and the pleasure of visiting his studio and seeing many of his original paintings – mostly of geese flying across beautiful skies. [3]

We were invited to Sir Peter’s 80^th birthday party down at HQ Slimbridge and were so looking forward to it, as were many other people. Sadly, dear old Peter died two weeks before his birthday. Philippa, who continued his work for a few years has also now left us and we are no longer living with 1200 rare birds in our ‘front garden’, but enjoying life in rural France. My husband, now approaching his 84^th birthday, is just as passionate about wildlife and nature and is never seen without camera in hand. I still paint animals, among other subjects and write books that take the reader to the far ends of the earth – like my favourite novel set in the wilds of Patagonia, which is not all that far from the South Pole; and while I was there among the icebergs and the glaciers a few years ago, it was almost like walking in the footsteps of Robert Falcon Scott.

[1] Lord Brassey, June Gadsby, Sir Peter Scott & Lady Philippa Scott.