Edward Joseph Walker (28 November 1934 – 19 March 2004) was a prize-winning English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 writer, travel writer, TV and radio dramatist and broadcaster

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

.

Early life

Ted Walker was born in Lancing, West Sussex

Lancing, West Sussex

Lancing is a town and civil parish in the Adur district of West Sussex, England, on the western edge of the Adur Valley. It lies on the coastal plain between Sompting to the west, Shoreham-by-Sea to the east and the parish of Coombes to the north...

, the son of a carpenter from Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

 who had found work in the south-coast construction industry. He was educated at Steyning Grammar School

Steyning Grammar School

Steyning Grammar School is a state comprehensive school in Steyning, West Sussex, England. It is the only state school in West Sussex which caters for boarders...

 and St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, where he read modern languages. Walker's earlier poems and later autobiographical work, in particular The High Path, show that his childhood appeared to have been unusually happy and totally remembered. Although there was tragedy too: Both of his paternal uncles, who lived in shared accommodation together with Walker's parents, grandparents and aunt, were killed in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; George in North Africa and Jack on Shoreham Beach.

At age 15 he met Lorna Benfell, and almost immediately after they finished college they were married (in 1956, at St Mary de Haura Church, Shoreham-by-Sea

St Mary de Haura Church, Shoreham-by-Sea

St Mary de Haura Church is an Anglican church in the ancient "New Shoreham" area of Shoreham-by-Sea in the district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex...

). At first they lived in west London and worked as teachers, she in Tottenham

Tottenham

Tottenham is an area of the London Borough of Haringey, England, situated north north east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham...

 and he in Paddington

Paddington

Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...

 and Southall

Southall

Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...

. They had four children.

It was at school that Walker and John Cotton, a like-minded colleague, founded a poetry magazine, Priapus, an attractive if amateur production, copies of which are now very rare. Walker published some work in the early numbers, the beginning of his poetic career.

Poetry and short stories

In 1963 Walker obtained a teaching post in Bognor Regis

Bognor Regis

Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...

 and from there moved to Chichester High School. He had also started to write poetry regularly and of a quality that made it welcome in journals such as The Listener, The Observer

The Observer

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

, the Times Literary Supplement and the London Magazine

London Magazine

The London Magazine is a historied publication of arts, literature and miscellaneous interests. Its history ranges nearly three centuries and several reincarnations, publishing the likes of William Wordsworth, William S...

. It drew the attention of William Plomer

William Plomer

William Charles Franklyn Plomer CBE was a South African author, known as a novelist, poet and literary editor. He was educated mostly in the United Kingdom...

, then poetry editor at Jonathan Cape and a powerful figure in the poetry world. Walker had also submitted poems to The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

, where Howard Moss

Howard Moss

Howard Moss was an American poet, dramatist and critic, who was poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine from 1948 until his death. He won the National Book Award in 1972 for Selected Poems.-Biography:...

 made his work welcome. The fee which Walker received for his first poem to be published in The New Yorker, "Breakwaters" (published June, 1963) helped him to move back to his native Sussex. Looking for a new source of income, Walker taught himself the art of short story writing, and his first short story, "Estuary", appeared in The New Yorker in April 1964.

Other key influences on his literary development included the Welsh poet Leslie Norris

Leslie Norris

George Leslie Norris FRSL , was a prize-winning Welsh poet and short story writer. Up to 1974 he earned his living as a college lecturer, teacher and headmaster...

 and canon of Chichester Cathedral, the Scotsman Andrew Young

Andrew Young (poet)

Andrew John Young was a Scottish poet and clergyman. His status as a poet was recognised quite late and he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1952.-Life:...

, both near neighbours, as well as the critic Robert Gittings

Robert Gittings

Robert William Victor Gittings CBE , was an English writer, biographer, BBC Radio producer, playwright and minor poet...

.

Walker's first book of verse, Fox on a Barn Door, focused on the Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 countryside and coast. The titles of a good third of the poems - such as "Breakwaters", "The Skate Fishers" and "On the Sea Wall" are about the shoreline of Lancing and Shoreham

Shoreham-by-Sea

Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...

. The South Downs

South Downs

The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...

 likewise provided inspiration.

Journalism & broadcasting

In the 1970s Walker was a contributor to his local newspaper, The Chichester Observer, where his regular column on West Sussex villages fascinated (and often enraged) the county set. He also began broadcasting with BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 local radio and TV. In 1979 he worked on a TV dramatisation with BBC Bristol producer Colin Rose. It was the start of a productive relationship. Their output included Big Jim And The Figaro Club (1981) and A Family Man (1983). Big Jim, a series of comedy films set during the postwar building boom, extolled the comradeship which, for Walker, epitomised working-class life "in them far-off days of the Figaro Club before the world turned lax and sour". A Family Man dealt with several generations of father-son relationships, drawing deeply on Walker's own family history.

Walker also wrote plays for Shaun McLaughlin in BBC radio drama and adapted Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....

's The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...

 (1995) for TVC (Television Cartoons)' animated production with a voice cast including Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...

, Rik Mayall

Rik Mayall

Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall is an English comedian, writer, and actor. He is known for his comedy partnership with Ade Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s...

, Michael Palin

Michael Palin

Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

 and Michael Gambon

Michael Gambon

Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...

.

Later life

For most of his working life (1971–1992) Walker earned a living as Professor of Creative Writing at New England College

New England College

New England College is a private four-year college in Henniker, New Hampshire, enrolling a total of approximately 1800 undergraduate and graduate students.-History:The school was created in 1946 for students attending college on the G.I...

, an American liberal arts academy that had a British campus in West Sussex, while pursuing his writing and other great passion, travel. He was a frequent visitor to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and in 1989 he published an account of his experiences and impressions of the country, In Spain. Although this was Walker's only significant venture into travel writing, it was greeted by critics as one of the finest portraits of the country. For example, Jan Morris listed it as one of her favourite books on Spain, describing it as "rich in details and sensations". After a long hiatus he returned to poetry with Mangoes on the Moon (1999), with many poems inspired by his travels in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

In 1987 Lorna Walker died after a long battle against cancer. A year later Walker married their close friend, Audrey Hicks, who had been similarly bereaved.

In The Last of England Walker tells the moving story of Lorna’s disfiguring illness, and his own grief at being robbed of their anticipated years of retirement together. The cancer also serves as a metaphor for what Walker saw as the unrelenting decay of the England so lovingly described in The High Path.

In 1997 Ted and Audrey Walker moved to the village of Alcalali

Alcalalí

Alcalalí is a Valencian municipality in the comarca of Marina Alta, province of Alicante, Spain.It is situated in the Pop Valley between the Serra del Ferrer and the mounts of Segili...

 near Valencia, Spain, where he died in 2004.

Honours

Walker's early poetry won many prizes, including the Eric Gregory Award

Eric Gregory Award

The Eric Gregory Award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30 on submission. The awards are up to a sum value of £24000 annually....

 (1964) and the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize

Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize

The Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize was awarded by the Poetry Society of London for a collection of poetry.-Winners:* 1966: Gavin Bantock for Christ: A Poem in 26 parts and Paul Roche for All Things Considered...

. He was the first winner of the Cholmondeley Award

Cholmondeley Award

The Cholmondeley Award is an annual award for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966...

 (1966). Walker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...

 in 1975 (he resigned this title in 1997).
Southampton University granted Walker an Honorary D.Litt in 1987.

Poetry

• Fox on a Barn Door (1965)
• The Solitaries (1969) - winner of the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize
  Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize
  The Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize was awarded by the Poetry Society of London for a collection of poetry.-Winners:* 1966: Gavin Bantock for Christ: A Poem in 26 parts and Paul Roche for All Things Considered...
  
  
• The Night Bathers (1970)
• Gloves to the Hangman (1973)
• Burning the Ivy (1978)
• Hands at a Live Fire (1987)
• Mangoes on the Moon (1999)

Autobiographies

• The High Path (1982) winner of the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography
  J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography
  The J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography is awarded annually by the English Centre for International PEN to given to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £1,000 and a silver pen. The winner...
  
  
• The Last of England (1993)

Children's books

• The Lion's Cavalcade (with Alan Aldridge, 1981)
• Granddad's Seagulls (1994)

Television and radio

• The Gaffer
• The Family Man
• Big Jim & the Figaro Club
• The Wind in the Willows