Tom Leppard, The ‘Leopard Man Of Skye’ Who Held A Guinness World Record
Guinness World RecordsTom Leppard, the “Leopard Man of Skye,” whose body was almost entirely covered in tattoos.
Tom Leppard, or the “Leopard Man of Skye,” is mostly known for the Guinness World Record he held: the most tattooed senior citizen. Shockingly, 99.9 percent of his body was covered in tattoos of “a leopard-skin design, with all the skin between the dark spots tattooed saffron yellow,” according to his entry in the records.
Yet despite his notoriety, Leppard lived a fairly isolated life. From 1987 to 2008, he lived in a remote hut on Skye that he crafted himself on a stretch of shoreline near Kyleakin. It was made of stone with a roof of plastic sheets, and it had no electricity or furniture, per the BBC. Each week, he would kayak three miles for his grocery shopping.
Guinness World RecordsLeppard served 28 years in the armed forces before retiring, tattooing his entire body, and living in isolation.
In 2008, after 20 years of living in seclusion, Leppard moved into a one-bedroom house in Broadford on Skye. At the time of his move, 73-year-old Leppard noted that he was starting to feel his age and could no longer live such an isolated life.
But Leppard never regretted his time as a hermit. In fact, he quite enjoyed it, telling The Guardian, “I have no interest in a TV, or a radio. Nor do I want a telephone… My life hasn’t changed much — I never bothered people when I lived in the bothy [hut], and they didn’t bother me, and I’m not really that interested in what else is going on outside.”
Even after moving into his one-bedroom home, the only major changes to Leppard’s lifestyle were a real bed and functional electricity. He mostly kept his walls bare and avoided his family.
“I’ve not really got anything in common with my family,” he said. “We’d have nothing to talk about, so there’s no point meeting them.”
