[1] Hughes was born in Manchester[2] and during the Second World War, he was a radio operator in the Royal Navy.
Whilst he was a student in London his work was in the socialist realism style and he was involved in painting a large mural at the Royal Courts of Justice.
By the 1960s he had developed his own form of constructivism and his work was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris.
During the 1960s he taught part-time at the architecture department of the Polytechnic of Central London, Bath Academy of Art and Chelsea School of Art, where he taught alongside two other constructive artists, John Ernest and Anthony Hill.
[6] In 2008, his work featured in an exhibition at Southampton City Art Gallery alongside other constructive artists, including Peter Lowe and Mary Martin.