Deakin, Roger 1943-2006

(Roger Stuart Deakin)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born February 11, 1943, in Watford, England; died of a brain tumor, April 19, 2006. Environmentalist, filmmaker, and author. Deakin was a freelance writer and environmental activist best known for his book Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey through Britain (1999). After attending Peterhouse College, Cambridge, he worked various jobs, including as an advertising copywriter and as an English teacher at Diss High School in England. Purchasing a country farmhouse, he felt himself more connected to the land as he planted a wood, harvested hay, and became an avid gardener. Meanwhile, he became a freelance writer and filmmaker, making movies on such subjects as local lifestyles and music. Deakin himself was involved in the music world, organizing concerts for the music/theatre group the Gogmagogs. He wrote for Radio 4, too, creating programs about gardening and his canoe trips, and became more widely known for his environmentalism. He was founding director of Common Ground, an environmental nonprofit organization. Another passion of Deakin's was swimming, and in 1996 he endeavored to swim the rivers of England, recording his experiences in Waterlog. In the book, he particularly laments how government restrictions have limited public swimming of natural waterways in England. His other book, Touching Wood: A Wildwood Journey (2004), chronicles his travels in Eastern Europe's ancient woodlands.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), August 23, 2006, p. 49.