them" – Lees-Milne's great-grandfather, Joseph Lees (1819-1890), was "one of three barely literate brothers... known, after their respective obsessions, as Nimrod, Ramrod and Fishing Rod". Joseph was "Fishing Rod". James Arthur Lees, the son of "Ramrod", owner of Alkrington Hall, Middleton, was the author of Three in Norway (by two of them). They had ties of marriage to two families he claimed to be "slightly grander": the Cromptons of Crompton Hall and the Milnes of Park House. The name Milne was added by royal licence in 1890 by Lees-Milne's grandfather James (the first of the family to attend Eton) to comply with terms for inheriting the estate of a maternal relative. A pillar of the Conservative party in Oldham, supporting Winston Churchill's candidacy, this James Lees-Milne was said to have refused a baronetcy (which would have come to his grandson James) on the grounds that he might have to make public speeches. The estate acquired included Crompton Hall, Lancashire, which alongside Wickhamford Manor was owned by George Crompton Lees-Milne. (He eventually sold both, but the former stayed in the family). Lees-Milne attended Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire, Eton, and Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he graduated with a third-class degree in history in 1931. Career From 1931 to 1935, Lees-Milne was private secretary to the 1st Baron Lloyd. In 1936 he became secretary of the Country Houses Committee of the National Trust, remaining so until 1950, apart from military service in 1939–1941. During his tenure he contributed regularly to the membership newsletter. He was instrumental in the first large-scale transfer of country houses from private ownership to the Trust. He resigned his full-time position in 1950, but continued his National Trust ties as a part-time architectural consultant and committee member. Writings From 1947 Lees-Milne published several architectural works aimed mainly at general readers. His witty, waspish and extensive diaries appeared in twelve volumes and were well received. Larry McMurtry commented that Lees-Milne, like Pepys and Boswell, was disarmingly open about his failings – indeed, would not have known how to go about hiding them. Nicholas Birns notes that Lees-Milne spoke "so candidly about himself, his life, and his love of art and architecture that his authorial relationship with the reader becomes a privileged one, not to be readily or casually communicated, not to be flaunted or brandished." His other works included several biographies, for instance of Harold Nicolson, The Bachelor