23 August 2023 , 12:05
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7 Up! documentary star Nick Hitchon has died after revealing he had a year to live following a throat cancer diagnosis in 2019.
Nick was one of the original stars of the programme in 1964. It followed the lives of a group of seven-year-olds as they all grew up across the UK - both rich, poor, rural and urban. Nick was a farmer's son and grew up in the Yorkshire Dales. He went on to become a nuclear fusion scientist and was a professor at the University of Wisconsin until retiring in June.
The documentary star sadly died in July aged 65 after a throat cancer diagnosis, which he shared with viewers when appearing on 63 Up in 2019. Nick said he was unlikely to live beyond the end of 2020. In Seven Up! Nick was first introduced to viewers when he was walking along a road near his home. He was quizzed about if he had a girlfriend, and gave the memorable response: "I don't want to answer that. I don't answer those kind of questions."
Nick first starred on the show 7 Up! in 1964 (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Nick clearly had an inkling of where his future career might take him, as he told cameras: "When I grow up, I'd like to find out all about the moon and all that." Seven Up! was originally planned to catch up with its 14 cast members in the year 2000, however it was decided they would check in with the stars ever seven years. 11 of the cast appeared in the latest follow up in 2019, on from 56 Up in 2012 and 49 Up in 2005.
TV and film director Michael Apted chose Nick to appear in the show, but initially found it hard to recruit a rural child who would talk on camera. Michael chanced upon Nick at his primary school, and he featured in the programme despite only being six when the show aired. Nick was the eldest of three boys and son of farmer Guy Hitchon and his wife Iona. In the first follow-up, Nick was a teenage boarder at a Yorkshire grammar school and had no interest in following his father into farming.
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In 21 Up, Nick was studying physics at Merton College, Oxford. He hit out at how some viewers perceived him as a seven-year-old, saying: "One of my friends had me pointed out to him as being destined to run the farm and being educationally pretty inept." He shared that he had made a "conscious effort to be more outgoing". By the time the next documentary came around, Nick had made the move over to America.
He was working as assistant professor at Wisconsin University, which he had joined in 1982. Nick remained at the university until the end of his career. He married fellow Oxford student Jacqui Bush in 1979. On 28 Up, he shared: "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."
Nick later revealed he had welcomed a son, got divorced from his first wife, married a second time and shared the ailing health of his parents. By the time of 63 Up, both of his parents had passed away. In that series, Nick 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." Nick was the second death among the original group, after when Lynn Johnson passed away in 2013. Michael Apted died in 2021, aged 79.