Geoffrey Hughes
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Hughes, DL
(born 2 February 1944) is an English
actor
.
As well as a wide range of TV and film appearances, Hughes is best known for a series of supporting roles in popular UK television dramas. He played Vernon Scripps in the British
drama series Heartbeat (2001–05, 2007); Twiggy in the popular television comedy The Royle Family
(1998–2000, 2006, 2008); Onslow
in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
(1990–95) and Eddie Yeats
in the soap opera
Coronation Street
(1974–83, 1987).
at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent
. This was followed by his first West End
production, the Lionel Bart
and Alun Owen
musical, Maggie May
. His other West End
productions include the stage version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, Say Goodnight to Grandma, The Secret Life of Cartoons and several seasons of Run for your Wife. He has recently played 'Pistol' in an open air production of Henry V
at Barnwell Manor
. He has also toured extensively in Britain and abroad. He has relatives in Shetland.
Among his many other appearances on television are: An Arrow for Little Audrey; The Saint
; Shadows of Fear; Z-Cars
; Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
; Flying Lady; Making Out
; Coasting; Doctor Who
; Spender; and Boon
. He played 'Trinculo' in an all filmed version of The Tempest
for the BBC
and 'Squire Clodpoll' in Good Friday 1663, one of Channel Four's new avant-garde
operas. His comedy appearances on TV include The Likely Lads
, Please Sir!
, Dad's Army
, Curry and Chips
The Upper Hand
and the character of Onslow
in the BBC
sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
.
Geoffrey's film credits include: Smashing Time
; Till Death Us Do Part
; The Bofors Gun
; The Virgin Soldiers
; Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
; Carry On At Your Convenience
; and TV films: Needle and The Man from the Peru. He was also the voice of Paul McCartney
in the Beatles
' cartoon film Yellow Submarine.
In 1974 he was cast as binman Eddie Yeats in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. Over the next nine years he became, with Stan Ogden
(Bernard Youens
), a foil
to Stan's long-suffering wife Hilda
(Jean Alexander
). Many fans still regard these performances as a high point of the series. He left the series in 1983, making a brief final return appearance in 1987 as part of Hilda's departure from the series. In recent years he has been offered to return to the show but has declined.
Hughes' considerable acting experience before Coronation Street and popularity whilst in it meant that he never suffered from the lack of work which often bedevils actors departing long-running series.
Hughes usually appears in pantomime
over the Christmas
period. He appeared on That Antony Cotton Show
on 6 September 2007, in which he spoke about his role in a short film called Expresso, which also starred Sir Norman Wisdom
. Hughes played the part of a man who visits a coffee shop for a "normal" coffee but is served by a pompous waiter. The film was sold in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.
In 2007 he performed the Angel Gabriel, in the BBC production "Liverpool Nativity". In 2008, he appeared in the second and fifth episode in series three of the E4 drama series Skins
.
At Christmas 2008, he returned to play Twiggy in The Royle Family's Christmas Special titled 'The New Sofa'.
In 2009, he played Frank in Tim Firth's Absolutely Frank at Oldham's Coliseum Theatre.
, golf
, cricket
, music, trees
, and beer
. Born south of the city proper, he was brought up in Liverpool
. In more recent years, he overcame prostate cancer
. He currently resides on the Isle Of Wight
, and is a Deputy Lieutenant
of the County. On 4 August 2010 it was reported that Hughes had suffered a cancer relapse and was gravely ill; he is currently receiving intensive radiotherapy treatment at the Queen Alexandra Hospital
in Portsmouth
, near his Isle of Wight home.
Hughes is also the Honourary Squire of Dartington Morris Men
and made an appearance at the Dartington Morris Ring meeting in September 2008. His musical interests include English folk-rock
and he has compered at Fairport's Cropredy Convention annual music festival several times.
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(born 2 February 1944) is an 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...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
As well as a wide range of TV and film appearances, Hughes is best known for a series of supporting roles in popular UK television dramas. He played Vernon Scripps in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
drama series Heartbeat (2001–05, 2007); Twiggy in the popular television comedy The Royle Family
The Royle Family
The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards...
(1998–2000, 2006, 2008); Onslow
Onslow (Keeping Up Appearances)
Onslow is a fictional character in the British 1990s comedy series Keeping Up Appearances, portrayed by actor Geoffrey Hughes. Onslow is a working class relative of the social-climbing snob, Hyacinth Bucket...
in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
(1990–95) and Eddie Yeats
Eddie Yeats
Edward Jeremy Timothy "Eddie" Yeats was a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-1974–1987:Eddie Yeats was born in Liverpool on 22 August 1941. In adulthood, Eddie held low-paid jobs and made extra cash by helping out his disreputable friends with carrying out...
in the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
(1974–83, 1987).
Career
Hughes attended Ranworth Square Primary School, Liverpool 11. He then moved on to attending Abbotsford Secondary Modern School in Norris Green, Liverpool 11. He started his career in repertoryRepertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
. This was followed by his first West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production, the Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
and Alun Owen
Alun Owen
Alun Owen was a British screenwriter, predominantly active in television, but best remembered by a wider audience for writing the screenplay of The Beatles' debut feature film A Hard Day's Night ....
musical, Maggie May
Maggie May (musical)
Maggie May is a musical with a book by Alun Owen and music and lyrics by Lionel Bart.Based on "Maggie May", a traditional ballad about a Liverpool prostitute, it deals with trade union ethics and disputes and the life of streetwalker Margaret Mary Duffy after her sweetheart dies.The show includes...
. His other West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
productions include the stage version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
, Say Goodnight to Grandma, The Secret Life of Cartoons and several seasons of Run for your Wife. He has recently played 'Pistol' in an open air production of Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
at Barnwell Manor
Barnwell Manor
Barnwell Manor is the historic former home of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. It is located by the village of Barnwell, near Oundle, Northamptonshire in England.-The house and estate:...
. He has also toured extensively in Britain and abroad. He has relatives in Shetland.
Among his many other appearances on television are: An Arrow for Little Audrey; The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
; Shadows of Fear; Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
; Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk , first transmitted during 1969-70, is a British private detective television series starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, respectively. The series was originally created by Dennis Spooner and produced by Monty Berman...
; Flying Lady; Making Out
Making Out
Making Out is a British television series, shown by the BBC between 1989 and 1991.The series, written by Debbie Horsfield, mixed comedy and drama in its portrayal of the women who worked on the factory floor at New Lyne Electronics in Manchester, tackling the personal lives of the characters as...
; Coasting; Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
; Spender; and Boon
Boon (TV series)
Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV...
. He played 'Trinculo' in an all filmed version of The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
for the 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...
and 'Squire Clodpoll' in Good Friday 1663, one of Channel Four's new avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
operas. His comedy appearances on TV include The Likely Lads
The Likely Lads
The Likely Lads was a black-and-white British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966...
, Please Sir!
Please Sir!
Please Sir! was a London Weekend Television produced situation comedy, created by writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and featured the actors John Alderton, Deryck Guyler, Joan Sanderson, Noel Howlett, Erik Chitty and Richard Davies...
, Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
, Curry and Chips
Curry and Chips
Curry and Chips is a controversial 1969 British sitcom from London Weekend Television.Set on a factory floor of 'Lillicrap Ltd', it starred a blacked up Spike Milligan as an Asian immigrant who went by the name of Kevin O'Grady. It also featured Eric Sykes as the foreman, Norman Rossington as the...
The Upper Hand
The Upper Hand
The Upper Hand is a sitcom, produced by Central Independent Television and broadcast by ITV from 1990 to 1996. The programme was adapted from the American sitcom Who's the Boss?....
and the character of Onslow
Onslow
Onslow can represent:People*Denzil Onslow , British politician, Member of Parliament for several constituencies*Denzil Onslow , general in the British Army and amateur cricketer...
in the 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...
sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
.
Geoffrey's film credits include: Smashing Time
Smashing Time
Smashing Time is a 1967 British comedy film starring Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave. It is a satire on the 1960s media-influenced phenomenon of Swinging London.It was written by George Melly and directed by Desmond Davis...
; Till Death Us Do Part
Till Death Us Do Part (film)
Till Death Us Do Part is a 1969 film based on the BBC television series Till Death Us Do Part which aired from 1965 until 1975. The film was directed by Norman Cohen and written by Johnny Speight, the creator of the television version.-Plot:...
; The Bofors Gun
The Bofors Gun
The Bofors Gun is a 1968 British drama film directed by Jack Gold and starring Nicol Williamson, Ian Holm and John Thaw. It was based on the play Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun by John McGrath. It portrays the British peacetime occupation of West Germany following the Second World War.-Cast:*...
; The Virgin Soldiers
The Virgin Soldiers
The Virgin Soldiers is a 1966 comic novel by Leslie Thomas, inspired by his own experiences of National Service in the British Army.The novel was turned into a film The Virgin Soldiers in 1969, directed by John Dexter, with a screenplay by the British screenwriter John Hopkins. It starred Hywel...
; Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (film)
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a film adaptation of the similarly titled first volume of Spike Milligan's autobiography. It starred Jim Dale as the young Terence "Spike" Milligan. Spike played the part of his father, Leo Milligan....
; Carry On At Your Convenience
Carry On at Your Convenience
Carry On at Your Convenience, released in 1971, is the 22nd film of the Carry On series and was the first box office failure of the series. The failure has been attributed to the film's attempt at exploring the political themes of the trade union movement, crucially portraying the union activists...
; and TV films: Needle and The Man from the Peru. He was also the voice of Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
in the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' cartoon film Yellow Submarine.
In 1974 he was cast as binman Eddie Yeats in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. Over the next nine years he became, with Stan Ogden
Stan Ogden
Stanley "Stan" Ogden is a long-standing fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional town of Weatherfield. He is played by actor Bernard Youens. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 29 June...
(Bernard Youens
Bernard Youens
Bernard Arthur Youens was a British character actor, best remembered for his portrayal of the workshy, beer-swilling Stan Ogden in Coronation Street from 1964 until his death in 1984....
), a foil
Foil (literature)
In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of another character....
to Stan's long-suffering wife Hilda
Hilda Ogden
Hilda Alice Ogden is a fictional character from the television series Coronation Street, one of the best-known of all the regular characters in the soap opera, whose name became synonymous with a certain type of working-class woman...
(Jean Alexander
Jean Alexander
Jean Alexander is a BAFTA Nominated English television actress. She is best known to British television viewers as Hilda Ogden on the soap opera Coronation Street, a role she played from 1964–1987 and also as Auntie Wainwright on the longest running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 1988 to 2010...
). Many fans still regard these performances as a high point of the series. He left the series in 1983, making a brief final return appearance in 1987 as part of Hilda's departure from the series. In recent years he has been offered to return to the show but has declined.
Hughes' considerable acting experience before Coronation Street and popularity whilst in it meant that he never suffered from the lack of work which often bedevils actors departing long-running series.
Hughes usually appears in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
over the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
period. He appeared on That Antony Cotton Show
That Antony Cotton Show
That Antony Cotton Show is a British comedy chat show that was broadcast on ITV for one series in 2007. It was presented by Coronation Street actor Antony Cotton, and aired on weekdays at 5pm. The show was not broadcast in Northern Ireland, due to UTV's news programme beginning at 5.30pm...
on 6 September 2007, in which he spoke about his role in a short film called Expresso, which also starred Sir Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
. Hughes played the part of a man who visits a coffee shop for a "normal" coffee but is served by a pompous waiter. The film was sold in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.
In 2007 he performed the Angel Gabriel, in the BBC production "Liverpool Nativity". In 2008, he appeared in the second and fifth episode in series three of the E4 drama series Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
.
At Christmas 2008, he returned to play Twiggy in The Royle Family's Christmas Special titled 'The New Sofa'.
In 2009, he played Frank in Tim Firth's Absolutely Frank at Oldham's Coliseum Theatre.
Television roles
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Curry & Chips | Dick |
| 1970 | Up Pompeii! Up Pompeii! Up Pompeii! is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and... - Episode 1: Vestal Virgins |
Piteous |
| 1974–83, 1987 | Coronation Street Coronation Street Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960... |
Eddie Yeats Eddie Yeats Edward Jeremy Timothy "Eddie" Yeats was a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-1974–1987:Eddie Yeats was born in Liverpool on 22 August 1941. In adulthood, Eddie held low-paid jobs and made extra cash by helping out his disreputable friends with carrying out... |
| 1985 | The Bright Side | Mr. Lithgow |
| 1986 | Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... - The Trial of a Time Lord The Trial of a Time Lord The Trial of a Time Lord is a fourteen-part British science fiction serial of the long running BBC series Doctor Who. The serial, produced as the twenty-third season of the Doctor Who television series, aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986... , parts 13 & 14 |
Mr. Popplewick |
| 1990–95 | Keeping Up Appearances Keeping Up Appearances Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society... |
Onslow |
| 1993 | I, Lovett I, Lovett I, Lovett is a BBC television sitcom written by Norman Lovett and Ian Pattison. Seven episodes were broadcast, a pilot in 1989 and a six episode series in 1993.-Plot:... |
Dirk |
| 1995 | The Smiths The Smiths The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce... |
Dooley |
| 1998–2000, 2006, 2008 | The Royle Family The Royle Family The Royle Family is a popular, BAFTA award-winning television comedy drama produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series between 1998 and 2000, and specials from 2006 onwards... |
Twiggy |
| 2001–05, 2007 | Heartbeat | Vernon Scripps |
| 2009 | Skins Skins (TV series) Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death... |
Uncle Keith |
Personal life
His off-stage interests are sailingSailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, music, trees
Dendrology
Dendrology or xylology is the science and study of wooded plants . There is no sharp boundary between plant taxonomy and dendrology. However, woody plants not only belong to many different plant families, but these families may be made up of both woody and non-woody members. Some families include...
, and beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. Born south of the city proper, he was brought up in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. In more recent years, he overcame prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
. He currently resides on the Isle Of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, and is a Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
of the County. On 4 August 2010 it was reported that Hughes had suffered a cancer relapse and was gravely ill; he is currently receiving intensive radiotherapy treatment at the Queen Alexandra Hospital
Queen Alexandra Hospital
The Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth, is one of several hospitals serving the city of Portsmouth...
in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, near his Isle of Wight home.
Hughes is also the Honourary Squire of Dartington Morris Men
Dartington Morris Men
Dartington Morris Men are based in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England. The side formed in Autumn of 1968 at Dartington Hall and is a member side of the Morris Ring. They are a very active side and perform throughout the summer months, starting typically with a May Day dance at dawn and...
and made an appearance at the Dartington Morris Ring meeting in September 2008. His musical interests include English folk-rock
Electric folk
Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...
and he has compered at Fairport's Cropredy Convention annual music festival several times.