I grew up in the shadows of the Malvern Hills, in a world of commons, trees, hillsides and fun. On reaching adolescence I quickly realised there was a gap in the market for organised events, and in 1995 with Simon Apsley I founded the Swirl Events Company, holding Balls around the Malvern Area. The success of our events is still present, in the now 'Traditional' Bouncy Castle in the courtyard at the Annual Chase Ball.
Having roused my interest in Experiences I attended LIPA to study Enterprise Management. During my time at LIPA, I founded the Student Radio Station, was Assistant Producer on 'Revengers Tragedy' Directed by Alex Cox and was also privileged to be taught Branding by Phil Saxe, Head of A&R at Factory Records and Manager of the Happy Mondays.
After University, I went back to what I knew and Produced 'Macbeth' which won 'Bravest Production' at the Scarborough Drama Festival. This was swiftly followed by becoming the Event Manager at Lucid in Manchester and quickly I made the decision to tackle the 'real world'.
I joined Centrica, and became heavily involved in Customer Experience, winning several awards along the way. In 2004 I joined a budding company LateRooms.com and transferred my Customer Experience knowledge to e-commerce, becoming fascinated in User Centred Design and Usability.
In November 2006 I married my Beautiful wife Emma, and moved to Padfield, Glossop, where I live in the shadows of the Peak District.
At the beginning of this year, I became the Lead Project Manager for LateRooms.com, which had just been sold to TUI for 120 million.
And so ends the Story of Hugo, so far...