Anthony Patrick (Pat) Joynson-Wreford: Birth and Early Life
Anthony Patrick (Pat) Joynson-Wreford was born on 10 January 1928 in Paris, France, the son of Captain Wilfred Heyman (“Tony”) Joynson-Wreford (d. 1940), aviator and racing driver, and Olive Fletcher (née Trainor, later known as Olive Trevor) (1893–1980), who would later pursue a career in Hollywood.
Tony and Olive had married in 1926 while living in France, but the marriage quickly deteriorated. Within a short time, they separated, and Olive was granted custody of their son.
Patrick’s birth itself was unexpected and dramatic. Olive had intended to return to England for the confinement, but while travelling north through Paris she became suddenly unwell after eating oysters. She went into premature labour and gave birth in a hotel on Rue de Bassano. The child was named Anthony Patrick Joynson-Wreford, though he was known throughout his life simply as Pat.
Before he was a year old, Olive took Patrick to the United States, where she began to build a new life and career. As a result, Pat grew up with no memory of his father, and for many years knew very little about him.
Later Life & Career: Pat Trevor
Before the rediscovery of his family history, Patrick Joynson-Wreford had already lived a full and varied life under the name Pat Trevor.
Raised largely outside Britain and shaped by his mother’s independent and unconventional path, he forged his own identity—one entirely separate from the Joynson-Wreford name and the world of Seskinore.
Theatre and Broadcasting
Pat pursued a career in theatre, radio, and television, working across several countries.
His career included:
- Stage work in South Africa
- Broadcasting and theatre work in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia)
- A return to the United Kingdom, where he became involved in television
By the mid-1960s, he was working with Scottish Television (STV), where he established himself as a presenter and broadcaster.
International Career
In 1968, Pat moved to Australia, taking up a role with Radio Australia in Melbourne.
This period marked another chapter in his international career, reflecting a life that was mobile, independent, and far removed from the static world of landed estates and inherited history.
Although he returned to Scotland later that same year, his time abroad added to a life already shaped by travel and adaptability.
Later Professional Life
Following his return, Pat resumed his work with Scottish Television, where he remained for many years until his retirement.
Throughout his career, he was known for:
- his strong presence and voice
- his natural storytelling ability
- and a wit that remained a defining feature of his personality
A Life Apart from Seskinore
For most of his life, Pat’s career and identity developed entirely independently of his father’s later life and the world of Seskinore.
He was:
- an actor
- a broadcaster
- a traveller
—not an heir to an estate, nor part of the McClintock family circle.
That separation makes his later rediscovery of Xenia and Seskinore all the more remarkable.
Reflection on His Mother
In later life, Patrick reflected on his relationship with his mother, Olive Vivian Trainor, with a mixture of honesty, complexity, and ultimately understanding.
Writing after her death in 1980, he recorded:
“Olive died on the 21st August 1980, an end had come to our, at times very strained and always awkward relationship. This book was by its very nature an exorcising of the demons and anger that had for most of my life been simmering and unfortunately never dealt with.
Olive was my mother, she may not have been the mother I would have wanted her to be, but she was all I had, and with time I have grown to appreciate and understand what she did, and achieved for me. I will always be grateful to her.
She was a product of her own upbringing and she did the best she could for me. On reflection I hold no malice for how things turned out, and above all I wonder how the young woman from Teddington, who after all came from a rather privileged background, managed to survive in the world she found herself in, without her family and friends.
I am amazed and full of admiration for her. She travelled the world with a young son, always thinking ahead and never looked back, because she knew that she couldn’t afford to procrastinate. She always made the best of the hand she was dealt and somehow provided for me.”
— Patrick Joynson-Wreford, Olive Through a Looking Glass
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