Editing Ted Hughes (section)

===1970–1998===
[[File:Lumb Bank - The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre - geograph.org.uk - 970898.jpg|thumb|right|The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank – an 18th-century mill-owner's house, once Hughes's home]]
In August 1970, Hughes married a second time, to Carol Orchard, a nurse. They were together until his death. Heather Clark in her biography of Plath, ''Red Comet'' (2021), observed that Hughes "would never be faithful to a woman after he left Plath".<ref>''Red Comet'', Heather Clark, 2021</ref> <!-- This biography was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Needs citation to be included in content. -->

Hughes bought a house known as Lumb Bank near [[Hebden Bridge]], West Yorkshire, while still maintaining the property at [[Court Green]]. He also began cultivating a small farm near [[Winkleigh]], Devon, called ''Moortown''; he used this name as the title of one of his poetry collections. Later he served as the president of the charity [[Farms for City Children]], established by his friend [[Michael Morpurgo]] in [[Iddesleigh]].<ref name=hatherleigh/>

In 1970 Hughes and his sister Olwyn<ref>{{cite news|last1=Guttridge|first1=Peter|title=Olwyn Hughes: Literary agent who fiercely guarded the work of her brother, Ted Hughes, and his wife, Sylvia Plath|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/olwyn-hughes-literary-agent-who-fiercely-guarded-the-work-of-her-brother-ted-hughes-and-his-wife-a6799816.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/olwyn-hughes-literary-agent-who-fiercely-guarded-the-work-of-her-brother-ted-hughes-and-his-wife-a6799816.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=10 January 2016|work=The Independent|date=7 January 2016}}</ref> set up the Rainbow Press. Between 1971 and 1981, it published sixteen titles, comprising poems by Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, [[Ruth Fainlight]], [[Thom Gunn]], and [[Seamus Heaney]]. The works were printed by Daedalus Press in Norfolk,<ref name="ann.skea/Hughes-Press">{{cite web |last1=Skea |first1=Ann |title=Ted Hughes and Small Press Publication |url=https://ann.skea.com/RainbowPress.htm |website=ann.skea.com |access-date=16 December 2024}}</ref> [[Rampant Lions Press]], and the John Roberts Press.

Hughes was appointed [[Poet Laureate]] in December 1984, following [[John Betjeman|Sir John Betjeman]]. A collection of his animal poems for children had been published by Faber earlier that year, ''What is the Truth?'', illustrated by R. J. Lloyd. For that work he won the annual [[Guardian Children's Fiction Prize]], a once-in-a-lifetime book award.<ref name=relaunch/> 

Hughes wrote many works for children. He also collaborated closely with [[Peter Brook]] and the [[National Theatre Company]].<ref name="Bellp10"/> He dedicated himself to the [[Arvon Foundation]], which promotes writing education and has run residential writing courses at Lumb Bank.<ref name="Bellp10">Bell, Charlie (2002) ''Ted Hughes'' Hodder and Stoughton, p.&nbsp;10.</ref> 

In 1993, Hughes made a rare television appearance for [[Channel 4]], reading passages from his 1968 novel [[The Iron Man (novel)|''The Iron Man'']]. He was featured in the 1994 documentary ''Seven Crows A Secret''.<ref>{{YouTube|oQ0xVki00nU|''Seven Crows A Secret''}}</ref>

In early 1994, increasingly alarmed by the decline of fish in rivers local to his Devonshire home, Hughes became involved in conservation activism. He was one of the founding trustees of the [[Westcountry Rivers Trust]], a charity established to restore rivers through catchment-scale management and a close relationship with local landowners and riparian owners.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://wrt.org.uk/the-westcountry-rivers-trust-story/|title=The Westcountry Rivers Trust Story|date=25 May 2017|work=Westcountry Rivers Trust News|access-date=16 June 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Avron Foundation, Colden Valley - geograph.org.uk - 1188593.jpg|thumb|right|Lumb Bank in the Calder Valley]]
Hughes was appointed a member of the [[Order of Merit]] by [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] just before he died. He had continued to live at the house in Devon, until suffering a fatal heart attack on 28 October 1998 while undergoing hospital treatment for [[colon cancer]] in [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]], London. 

On 3 November 1998, his funeral was held at [[North Tawton]] church, and he was cremated in [[Exeter]]. Speaking at the funeral, fellow poet [[Seamus Heaney]], said: 
<blockquote>"No death outside my immediate family has left me feeling more bereft. No death in my lifetime has hurt poets more. He was a tower of tenderness and strength, a great arch under which the least of poetry's children could enter and feel secure. His creative powers were, as Shakespeare said, still crescent. By his death, the veil of poetry is rent and the walls of learning broken."<ref>{{cite book| last = Boyanowsky| first = Ehor| title = Savage Gods, Silver Ghosts In the Wild With Ted Hughes| year = 2010| publisher = Douglas & McIntyre Limited| isbn = 978-1-55365-323-3 | page = 195}}</ref></blockquote>

On 16 March 2009, [[Nicholas Hughes]], the son of Hughes and Plath, died by suicide in his home in [[Alaska]]. He had suffered from depression.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/03/23/plath.son.suicide/index.html|title=Tragic poet Sylvia Plath's son kills himself|publisher=CNN|date=23 March 2009|access-date=16 July 2010}}</ref>

In January 2013, Carol Hughes announced that she would write a memoir of their marriage. ''[[The Times]]'' headlined its story "Hughes's widow breaks silence to defend his name" and observed that "for more than 40 years she has kept her silence, never once joining in the furious debate that has raged around the late Poet Laureate since the suicide of his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath."<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/article/my-life-with-ted-hughess-widow-breaks-silence-to-defend-his-name-573k0mjz8fz "My life with Ted: Hughes's widow breaks silence to defend his name"]. Valentine Low. ''The Times''. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2015.</ref>

Hughes's brother Gerald published a memoir late in 2014, ''Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir''. ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' described it as "a warm recollection of a lauded poet".<ref>[https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gerald-hughes/ted-and-i "Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir by Gerald Hughes"]. ''Kirkus Reviews''. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2015.</ref>