Nick Hitchon dies aged 65: Yorkshire Dales farmer’s son turned nuclear scientist whose life was charted in Up documentary, passes away after revealing in 2019 that he had throat cancer and had a year left to live
- Nick Hitchon originally appeared in Seven Up! in 1964
- Series charted the lives of a group of children who had contrasting backgrounds
One of the original stars of pioneering documentary series Up has died aged 65.
Nick Hitchon originally appeared in Seven Up! – the first iteration of the programme – in 1964.
The series charted the lives of a group of seven-year-old children who had contrasting backgrounds and grew up in various parts of the country, both rich and poor, rural and urban.
Hitchon, a farmer’s son who grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, went on to become a nuclear fusion scientist and was a professor at the University of Wisconsin until his retirement in June.
In Seven Up! he was first seen walking along a road near his home in Littondale and, when later asked if he had a girlfriend, memorably said: ‘I don’t want to answer that. I don’t answer those kind of questions.’
But he prophetically also told viewers: ‘When I grow up, I’d like to find out all about the moon and all that.’
He passed away in July after a throat cancer diagnosis that he had revealed in 63 Up, which aired in 2019. Hitchon said then that he was unlikely to live beyond the end of 2020.
One of the original stars of pioneering documentary series Up has died aged 65. Nick Hitchon originally appeared in Seven Up! – the first iteration of the programme – in 1964. The series charted the lives of a group of seven-year-old children who had contrasting backgrounds and grew up in various parts of the country, both rich and poor, rural and urban
Of its original 14 cast members – 10 boys and four girls – 11 appeared in the programme in 2019, which followed on from 56 Up in 2012 and 49 Up in 2005.
Seven Up! had been inspired by the Jesuit maxim ‘give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man’.
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It was commissioned as a 40-minute special for ITV’s World in Action series.
The original plan was to only catch up the children in the year 2000 but it was then decided that the children would be re-visited in 1970 and then every seven years thereafter.
Hitchon was chosen to appear by Michael Apted, who began his involvement as a researcher on the first programme.
Apted had found it difficult to recruit a rural child who was willing to talk in front of the camera, but then chanced upon Hitchon at his Church of England primary school.
He featured despite the fact that he was only six when the show aired. The eldest of three boys, he was the son of farmer Guy Hitchon and his wife Iona.
Hitchon and his younger brother were the only boys in the tiny hamlet of Hawkswick, where their family farmed.
Nick Hitchon (far right) is seen in 49 Up in 2005. From left to right: Director Michael Apted, Paul, Jackie, Neil, Producer Claire Lewis, Tony, Sue, Symon, Lynn, Bruce and Nick
Hitchon is seen in Seven Up, when he was in fact aged just six. When asked if he had a girlfriend, he memorably said: ‘I don’t want to answer that. I don’t answer those kind of questions’
In 21 Up, in 1977, Hitchon was studying physics at Merton College, Oxford, and expressed his anger at how some viewers perceived him in the first show. Above: Nick with the other children from the show. From left to right: Bruce, Andrew, Peter, John, Jackie, Lynn (back), Neil (front) Tony, Charles, Sue, Symon, Paul Suzy and Nick
In 7 Plus Seven, the first follow-up, Hitchon was a teenage boarder at Yorkshire grammar school but had no interest in following his father into farming.
Seven years later, in 21 Up, Hitchon was studying physics at Merton College, Oxford, and expressed his anger at how some viewers perceived him in the first show.
He told Apted: ‘One of my friends had me pointed out to him as being destined to run the farm and being educationally pretty inept.’
He added that he had made a ‘conscious effort to be more outgoing’.
By 28 Up in 1984 Hitchon had reached the level of assistant professor at Wisconsin University, which he had joined in 1982.
He was a researcher in nuclear fusion in the department of electrical and computer engineering, where he remained until his retirement.
Hitchon featured despite the fact that he was only six when the show aired. The eldest of three boys, he was the son of farmer Guy Hitchon and his wife Iona
Hitchon is seen in 49 Up, which aired in 2005. Two shows were to follow, 56 Up in 2012 and 63 Up in 2019
He had been married to fellow Oxford Undergraduate Jacqui Bush since 1979 and told how moving to the US had given him new opportunities and a standard of living that he could not have had in Britain.
Hitchon also explained his transition from child to adult, saying: ‘Trying to become a reasonably well-adjusted person was for me a bit of a struggle for a while and I was given a fantastic opportunity when I went to university, and that really saved my bacon.’
By the time of 42 Up in 1998, Hitchon had been a professor at Wisconsin for four years.
In the two further documentaries before 63 Up, Hitchon experienced the birth of his son, divorce from his first wife, remarriage to his second wife and the ailing health of his parents.
By the time of 63 Up, both of Hitchon’s parents had passed away
By the time of 63 Up, both of his parents had passed away. Asked how he compared to the boy who viewers first saw, he said: ‘I’m still the same little kid, really.
‘I think I can relate to that little guy who was all eager and all earnest trying to answer all the questions.’
Hitchon’s passing was the second death among the original group. The first came in 2013, when Lynn Johnson passed away.
Apted died in 2021 at the age of 79.
Hitchon is survived by his second wife Cryss Brunner and his son and two brothers.
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