At the age of 15 he left school and took a succession of temporary jobs, including working in a cotton mill and in a British Rail ticket office.

[1][2] Hayes' most prominent role was the presenter of Thames Television's children's show Rainbow from 1973 to 1992, replacing original host David Cook.

[5] Hayes struggled to find work after Rainbow was cancelled by ITV when the production company, Thames Television, lost its franchise in 1991.

[1] Hayes starred in a humorous television advert for Virgin Money savings accounts, making fun of his fall from the top.

[9] He replicated the role of a taxi driver,[9] just as Patrick Macnee had done in the Oasis video for "Don't Look Back in Anger".

The stated objective of the campaign was to find the missing monster puppets from the original 1980s television advertisements for the snack.