Solved it -- If anyone else comes across this problem just adding one line fixes it.
Edit /catalog/includes/modules/payment/paypal_wpp.php
Around line 330:
$caller->setOpt('curl', CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
$caller->setOpt('curl', CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 180);
$caller->setOpt('curl', CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
// Dennis McEntire Feb 2011 - Fixes curl_exec error 52 problem
$caller->setOpt('curl', CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, 3);
Just adding that last line solves the problem.
Hope this helps someone else.
Dennis McEntire