Julian Prideaux, who has died aged 82 of cancer, was my friend and colleague at the National Trust for more than 40 years. Wise, knowledgable and with a twinkle in his eye, he saw the National Trust through a series of triumphs and crises, the Mr Fixit every organisation needs. He rose from the youngest land agent in the Trust in 1969 (the so-called “baby” agent), through to regional director and chief agent to become deputy director general and secretary until his retirement in 2002.
Perhaps his greatest triumph was to lead the restoration of Uppark, a beautiful 17th-century house on the Hampshire Downs, after its upper floors were gutted by a ferocious fire in 1989. Once the decision was taken to restore the house, Julian sprang to the rescue and – though it was fraught with difficultly – oversaw the most ambitious reconstruction project ever attempted, involving the painstaking reassembly and rebuilding of precious interiors, furniture and decoration. The project earned huge acclaim domestically and worldwide.
