Rodney Frank Legg (18 April 1947 – 22 July 2011) was a campaigner, author and publisher, known for being chairman of the

Open Spaces Society The Open Spaces Society is a campaign group that works to protect public rights of way and open spaces in the United Kingdom, such as common land and village greens. It is Britain's oldest national conservation body and a registered charity. Foun ...

and for publishing numerous works on the history and landscape of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England.

Early life

Legg was born in Bournemouth on 18 April 1947. His parents, Ted and Gladys, were of Dorset ancestry, and had one older son. Legg attended primary school in Charminster, then Winton Boys School until age 16. As an adolescent he joined the

League of Empire Loyalists The League of Empire Loyalists (LEL) was a British pressure group (also called a "ginger group" in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations), established in 1954. Its ostensible purpose was to stop the dissolution of the British Empire. The League ...

, in which he participated for seven years, including making flag-waving protests at

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

party conferences.

Career

After leaving school with five

O-level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...

s, Legg's first job was for the ''Basildon Standard'' in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, as a reporter. After four years he returned to Dorset and founded ''Dorset: The County Magazine'' in 1968, which later became ''Dorset Life''. Legg led a campaign to restore public access to the army-occupied

Lulworth Ranges The Lulworth Ranges are military firing ranges located between Wareham and Lulworth in Dorset, England. They cover an area of more than , are leased in a rolling contract from the Weld Estate by the Ministry of Defence and are part of the Armoure ...

in south Dorset, including the village of

Tyneham Tyneham is a ghost village abandoned in 1943 and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in south Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. In 2001 the civil parish had a population of 0. The civil ...

that had been evacuated by command of the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in 1943 and never returned to its former residents. Known as the Tyneham Action Group, this campaign – founded by Legg in 1967 – eventually resulted in weekend access to ten square miles of land that were also secured from being ploughed or developed. Having joined the

at age 16, Legg became treasurer in 1981 and chairman in 1989. He believed that all land should be publicly accessible; he opened

Steep Holm Steep Holm ( cy, Ynys Rhonech, ang, Ronech and later ) is an English island lying in the Bristol Channel. The island covers at high tide, expanding to at mean low water. At its highest point it is above mean sea level. Administratively it ...

island in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

to public access, after helping to buy it in 1976 in memory of his friend Kenneth Allsop. Legg was the island's warden for 25 years. In 1990 Legg became the Open Spaces Society's appointee on the council of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. He was critical of the Trust, calling it "an elitist club for art connoisseurs", and sought to change it from within. His complaint, based on years of experience of finding Trust land blocked to public access, caused debate in the national press. Legg published 125 books, including a collaborative edition – with author

John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...

– of

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...

's ''Monumenta Britannica'' (1980–1982).

Personal life

Legg's partner was Di Hooley. Legg died from cancer on 22 July 2011, age 64.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legg, Rodney 1947 births 2011 deaths Writers from Bournemouth English activists National Trust people