Roger Stuart Deakin (born 11 February 1943 -[1] 19 August 2006) was an English writer, documentary-maker and environmentalist.
Deakin was born in Watford, Hertfordshire.[1] Educated at Haberdashers' Aske's and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he read English, Deakin first worked in advertising as a copywriter and creative director. He was responsible for the National Coal Board slogan "Come home to a real fire". Following this, he taught English at Diss Grammar School for three years.
In 1968, he bought Walnut Tree Farm, a semi-ruined Elizabethan moated farmhouse on the edge of Mellis Common, near Diss in Suffolk, which he rebuilt and developed over many years and where he lived until his death from a brain tumour. This had first been diagnosed only four months previously. The house and its surroundings were the subject of two BBC Radio 4 documentaries, The House and The Garden, that he produced. A further documentary, Cigarette on the Waveney, covered the subject of a canoe trip down the nearby River Waveney. He also made several television documentary films covering subjects as diverse as rock music, Essex, Hank Wangford, allotments and the world of horse racing.
Deakin was a founder director of the arts and environmental charity Common Ground in 1982.
In 1999, Deakin's acclaimed book Waterlog was published in the United Kingdom by Chatto and Windus. Inspired in part by the short story The Swimmer by John Cheever,[2] it describes his experiences of "wild swimming" in Britain's rivers and lakes and advocates open access to the countryside and waterways. Wildwood appeared posthumously in 2007 and describes a series of journeys across the globe Deakin made to meet people whose lives are intimately connected to trees and wood. In November 2008, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, a collection of writing taken from his personal notebooks and largely focusing on the wildlife and ecology of the area around his farmhouse, was published to high critical appraisal.
Deakin appears in The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane. The TV documentary The Wild Places Of Essex, also by Macfarlane, includes scenes shot at Walnut Tree Farm. Waterlog inspired a one-hour documentary, Wild Swimming, on BBC Four in August 2010 presented by Alice Roberts. It is stated in it that he was the source for the voice of the swimmer in Alice Oswald's 48-page poem; Dart, about the Devon River Dart.
Deakin married Jenny Hind in 1973 with whom he had a son, Rufus, before the marriage was dissolved in 1982.[1] Deakin died in Mellis, Suffolk.[3] He is survived by his partner Alison Hastie and his son.[1]