Ted Walker - Later Life

Later Life

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

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 near Valencia, Spain, where he died in 2004.