Nick Hitchon Obituary, Cause of Death – Seven Up! Star and Nuclear Fusion Scientist Dies at 65
Nick Hitchon, the Yorkshire farmer’s son who became internationally known through the landmark Up documentary series before building a distinguished career as a nuclear fusion scientist, died in 2023 at the age of 65 following a battle with cancer. Recent reporting identifies the cause as throat cancer.
Hitchon first appeared on television as a six-year-old in the 1964 documentary Seven Up!, which followed children from different backgrounds across Britain. What was initially intended as a one-off program became an extraordinary decades-long documentary project, with Hitchon returning for successive installments of the Up series.
Born in Skipton and raised in the Yorkshire Dales, Hitchon grew up in a farming family in the hamlet of Hawkswick. Even as a child, he demonstrated a strong interest in science. During his first appearance on Seven Up!, he famously spoke about wanting to learn about the Moon.
His academic career eventually took him far beyond his rural Yorkshire upbringing. Hitchon studied physics at Merton College, Oxford, earning his DPhil at just 23. In 1982, he moved to the United States with his first wife, Jacqui Bush, to continue his work in nuclear fusion at the University of Wisconsin.
He remained at the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering for approximately four decades, becoming a full professor in 1994 and serving as department chair from 1999 to 2002. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and three books in his specialist field.
His scientific ambition was closely connected to his desire to improve the world. Hitchon dreamed of developing relatively inexpensive and clean energy through nuclear fusion, a goal that remained central to his professional life.
Yet despite his accomplishments as a scientist and professor, Hitchon remained widely recognized by television audiences as one of the participants in the celebrated Up series.
He appeared in every installment during his lifetime, although he sometimes found the interviews uncomfortable and believed that certain aspects of his life had been poorly represented in earlier programs. Even so, he continued participating in the series for decades.
Hitchon was diagnosed with cancer approximately five years before his death and continued working and living as fully as possible. He retired from the University of Wisconsin in spring 2022.
His final appearance in the Up series was filmed only days before his death. Recent reporting on the final 70 Up installment revealed that Hitchon died just three days after that interview.
For those who followed his life through the documentaries, Nick represented something unusual: a child whose hopes, education, career, relationships and challenges were documented over more than half a century.
Beyond television, however, he was a scientist, professor, husband, father, brother and friend. He is survived by his second wife, Cryss Brunner, whom he married in 2001; his son, Adam, from his first marriage; and his brothers, Chris and Andrew Hitchon.
Nick Hitchon’s life crossed remarkable boundaries—from a small farming community in the Yorkshire Dales to Oxford University and ultimately to a distinguished academic career in the United States.
His legacy lives on through his scientific work, his contribution to nuclear fusion research and the extraordinary documentary record that allowed generations of viewers to watch his life unfold.
Nick Hitchon, remembered around the world as one of the enduring figures of the Up series, leaves behind a remarkable legacy of curiosity, science, perseverance and humanity.
May his memory continue through his family, his scientific work and the many viewers whose lives he touched through more than five decades on screen.