Birmingham grandad hopes to fulfill Olympic dream

May 17 2010

John Hughes

A GLOBE-TROTTING grandad who set sail from his native Birmingham some 45 years ago for a life of adventure Down Under is hoping to return to his home city to fulfill an Olympic dream.

John Hughes once worked alongside Mother Theresa in an Indian hospital and met the Dalai Lama during his years as a charity worker in the Third World.

His exploits are a far cry from the streets of Small Heath, Birmingham, where he grew up, becoming well-known locally as a musician back in the Swinging Sixties.

But now he is dreaming of completing a unique hat-trick – carrying the Olympic Torch at THREE Games.

The charity aid worker has already run with the iconic flame in Sydney in 2000 and again in 2004 on its way to Athens.

John, 69, wants to make history by holding the torch for the third time when it visits Brum before the London 2012 Games.

The pensioner said: ‘‘I’ve done it twice now, but 2012 will be a great opportunity to carry it through the place where I was born. I just need somebody to nominate me for it!”

It was in 1965 that John decided to pack up his bags and head off for a new life in Australia.

He had worked as a butcher in Birmingham and as a part-time musician, playing the saxophone and clarinet in a few local bands.

After emigrating he was accepted into the British Merchant Navy as a ship musician, where he developed an insatiable wanderlust.

Having decided to head to India to volunteer with the Salvation Army, John worked in the Missions of Charity Hospital in Kaligat, where he met the world’s most famous nun.