Peter Wilson (auctioneer)  Peter Cecil Wilson (8 March 1913 – 3 June 1984) was an English auctioneer and chairman of Sotheby's. Wilson's father was Sir Matthew Wilson of Eshton Hall, Gargrave, Yorkshire. He was educated at Eton College and at New College, Oxford. He worked for British Intelligence during World War II, in London and Washington DC. He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme "Desert Island Discs" on 26 September 1966. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, and was made honorary life president of Sotheby's in 1980, when he stood down as chairman. Wilson owned Garden Lodge at Logan Place in London's Kensington district for several years. He died in Paris in 1984, after being in a coma for a week. He was 71. Wilson is mentioned in the Ian Fleming story "The Property of a Lady", commissioned by Sotheby's for use in their annual journal, "The Ivory Hammer", and which was adapted as the auction sequence in the film "Octopussy".