Editing Philip Larkin (section)

===Final years and death===
{{Quote box
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 |quote=<poem>Being brave
Lets no one off the grave.
Death is no different whined at than withstood.</poem>
 |source=''from'' "Aubade" (1977), ''[[Collected Poems – 2003 edition (Philip Larkin)|Collected Poems]]''
}}

Larkin turned sixty in 1982. This was marked most significantly by a collection of essays entitled ''[[Larkin at Sixty]]'', edited by [[Anthony Thwaite]] and published by [[Faber and Faber]].<ref name=LarkinSixty>Thwaite 1982.</ref> There were also two television programmes: an episode of ''[[The South Bank Show]]'' presented by [[Melvyn Bragg]] in which Larkin made off-camera contributions, and a half-hour special on the BBC that was devised and presented by the Labour Shadow Cabinet Minister [[Roy Hattersley]].<ref>Motion 1993, p. 494.</ref>

In 1983, Jones was hospitalised with [[shingles]], a skin rash. The severity of her symptoms, including its effects on her eyes, distressed Larkin. As her health declined, regular care became necessary: within a month she moved into his Newland Park home and remained there for the rest of her life.<ref>Motion 1993, p. 498.</ref>

[[File:Philip Larkin -headstone at Cottingham municipal cemetery, near Hull, England-24May2008.jpg|upright=1.1|right|thumb|The headstone marking Larkin's grave at Cottingham municipal cemetery, [[Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire|Cottingham]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]]|alt=Headstone marking Larkin's grave at Cottingham Cemetery, [[Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire|Cottingham]], [[East Riding of Yorkshire]]. The headstone is light-grey and has a ground level built-in vase for flowers on its right side. When seen in 2008 there was a small green bush growing just to its left. The headstone is inscribed with the words "Philip Larkin  1922–1985  Writer" on three lines with the dates on the middle line. It is situated in a cemetery with other headstones.]]
At the memorial service for John Betjeman, who died in July 1984, Larkin was asked if he would accept the post of [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]]. He declined, not least because he felt he had long since ceased to be a writer of poetry in a meaningful sense.<ref>Bradford 2005, p. 260.</ref> The following year, Larkin began to suffer from [[oesophageal cancer]]. On 11 June 1985, he underwent surgery, but his cancer was found to have spread and was inoperable. On 28 November, he collapsed and was readmitted to hospital. He died four days later, on 2 December 1985, at the age of 63, and was buried at [[Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire|Cottingham]] municipal cemetery near Hull.<ref>Motion 1993, p. 524.</ref>
 
Larkin had asked on his deathbed that his diaries be destroyed. The request was granted by Jones, the main beneficiary of his will, and Betty Mackereth; the latter shredded the unread diaries page by page, then had them burned.<ref>Motion 1993, p. 522.</ref> His will was found to be contradictory regarding his other private papers and unpublished work; legal advice left the issue to the discretion of his literary executors, who decided the material should not be destroyed.<ref>Motion 1993, p. xvi.</ref> When she died on 15 February 2001, Jones, in turn, left £1&nbsp;million split between [[St Paul's Cathedral]], [[Hexham Abbey]] and [[Durham Cathedral]], and another  £1&nbsp;million to the [[National Trust]].<ref>{{cite news
 |first=John
 |last=Ezard
 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jan/12/books.booksnews
 |title=Larkin's lover bequeaths to church £1m of poet's agnostic legacy
 |publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited
 |work=[[The Guardian]]
 |date=13 January 2002
|location=London
 |access-date=12 December 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306170621/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jan/12/books.booksnews
 |archive-date=6 March 2016
|url-status=live
 }}</ref> Larkin is commemorated with a green plaque on [[The Avenues, Kingston upon Hull]].