John Hughes was born in Newry, Co. Down in 1947, reared near Markethill, Co. Armagh, and educated at Cladymore. He lost both parents aged eleven, migrated to England at fifteen and worked as a floor-sweeper and butcher’s boy before opening his own retail bedding business. An accomplished clay-pigeon shot and weight-lifter, he is now a commercial property developer and lives in Coventry with his wife. Bright Bewildering Green is his first book.