[1][2] His father was a carpenter who left the family shortly after the Second World War, and his mother, who had a history of mental health problems, committed suicide by gas when Hudd was nine years old.

After completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, he studied commercial art at the Regent Street Polytechnic.

[3] He made his professional debut as a comedian at the Streatham Hill Theatre on 27 October 1957, in a show in aid of the Sir Philip Game Boys' Club, of which he had been a member.

His acting roles included the Dennis Potter series Lipstick on Your Collar, for which he received critical praise, and Karaoke.

[13] In the mid 1990s, he appeared in two series of Common As Muck, a drama about a group of refuse collectors, alongside Edward Woodward.

In 2019, he toured the UK in a production of Oscar Wilde's play A Woman of No Importance alongside Liza Goddard and Isla Blair.

[25] His CD, Mirth, Magic and Melodrama consists of a collection of classic monologues from the music hall days, including The Pig and The Lion and Albert, first recorded by Stanley Holloway.

For Celebrity Mastermind, broadcast in January 2014, Hudd answered questions on the specialist subject of music hall comedian Dan Leno.

[28] Hudd was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours List for services to entertainment.

[30] On 29 November 2010, Hudd was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Westminster; he studied commercial art there when it was the Regent Street Polytechnic.