Image ID: 24468

Hughie Green visits the Coats Viyella Factory

Caddaw Avenue
Hucknall
England

Hughie Green was born on 2nd February 1920 in Kent. His parents were not part of showbusiness, but his grandfather had been the famous music hall entertainer Harry Tate. It was not long before young Hughie started showing the same talent: he was regularly appearing in music hall before his tenth birthday, and had a respectable film career by his mid-teens. At the age of 13, he also toured as the producer and leader of a group of child entertainers, known as 'Hughies Gang'. His career grew and grew, and by the time he was nineteen years old, he had a staff of 100 and a weekly radio show which he wrote and produced himself. It was around this time that the radio version of Opportunity Knocks first emerged, but it was short-lived. The BBC decided that the show did not have a future, and so the young star was quickly snapped up by the new ITV network. His first show was the hugely popular Double Your Money, one of the first TV quiz shows. This, coupled with the later The Sky's The Limit proved he was an entertainer with an uncanny knack with ordinary people. However, he will probably be most remembered for his role as the presenter of the TV version of Opportunity Knocks, and launched the careers of stars such as Les Dawson, Pam Eyres, Bernie Flint and 'Muscleman'. Eventually, Green's obsessiveness and reputation for being difficult made him too many enemies in TV management, and his show was cancelled. Try as he might, he could not find a way back into television, and his career was effectively over. It was not until his death on 3rd May 1997 that he really moved back into the public eye. The controversial revelations at his funeral were seized by the tabloids when it was alleged that he was the biological father of television presenter and celebrity, Paula Yates.

Date: c 1974

Organisation Reference: NCCC000554

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