People
Ted Hughes
'Crowing' about our local Laureate
Born on the 17th August 1930 at Aspinall Street Mytholmroyd, Ted Hughes would become the nation's Poet Laureate.
The son of a carpenter, Hughes spent his early years attending Burnley Road Primary School and playing with friends in the Calder Valley.
Age seven, the family moved to Mexborough in South Yorkshire and it was here that the formative and lasting influences on his life, notably landscapes and the natural world, would later be reflected in his poetry. His father had witnessed the horrors of war whilst serving at Gallipoli, and this may also have fuelled the imagination of Hughes.
After attending the local grammar school, Hughes gained a place at Pembroke College Cambridge, first studying English and then switching to Archaeology and Anthropology. He graduated in 1954.
In 1955 Ted Hughes met the American poet Sylvia Plath and they married in 1956. The couple moved to Devon in the early 1960's, although tragically, Sylvia committed suicide in 1963 and was buried in the churchyard at Heptonstall. Ted Hughes did retain links with the Calderdale area and in 1968 he bought a former mill owner's house at Lumb Bank near Heptonstall.
His reputation as a poet became established in the 1960's. His first collection 'Hawk in the Rain' was followed in 1979 by 'The Remains of Elmet'. He won critical acclaim for the poem cycle 'Crow' and in 1974 was awarded the Queen's Medal for Poetry. He made early radio broadcasts on the subject of creative writing and was always keen to promote writing, despite keeping a low media profile.
In 1977 Ted Hughes was awarded the O.B.E and in 1984 was given the highest accolade - the title of Poet Laureate, the youngest person to be granted the title since Tennyson.
'Birthday Letters' was published in 1998. The collection of eighty-eight works chronicling the relationship between Ted and Sylvia finally ended some of the intrigue and speculation about their relationship which had existed since Sylvia 's untimely death.
Hughes wrote extensively both for adults and children and it is fitting that it was the Halifax theatre company, Northern Broadsides who took the decision to premiere his last play, Alcestis, in September 2000.
Ted Hughes died in the autumn of 1998 at his home in Devon. He had been suffering from cancer. Since his death there have been plans to create a memorial centre in Mytholmroyd. Meanwhile, a feature film, based on his romance and marriage to Sylvia Plath, is currently in production.
Copies of works written by Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath are available for loan from Calderdale Libraries.
If you are a Calderdale library member, or using a Calderdale library, why not find out about other historical figures, by searching the online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|
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Simply enter a person's name or a place in the search box. (Note that a search for Halifax is best expressed as Halifax, Yorkshire.) If the 'Library Card Login' box appears, simply enter the word calderdale, followed by your library card number.
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