Oliver Kite (27 November 1920 – 15 June 1968) was a British master flyfisher, writer, broadcaster, naturalist and television personality of the 1960s.
After a number of postings, including witnessing an atomic bomb test at Maralinga, Australia, where he suffered a heart attack at the age of 35, he settled in Netheravon, Wiltshire in 1958[1] and retired from the army in 1965.
Kite gained a wide affection and audience among television viewers in the 1960s as the presenter of Kite's Country on Southern TV, gently displaying his skills as a fly fisherman and his keen naturalist's eye for the wildlife of Wiltshire and Hampshire, each weekly episode being narrated in his lilting Welsh accent with considerable charm and expert knowledge.
Known for his simple fishing style, extraordinarily keen vision and his invention of several enduringly successful fly patterns including Kite's Imperial, his many friends locally were augmented by admirers in France, Denmark, Norway and across the UK.
A new edition of Nymph Fishing in Practice, with a biographical introduction and notes by Robert Spaight, was published by Swan Hill Press in 2000.