He grew up in Altenbeken and Paderborn in the middle of West Germany. In 1988, Hugh and his family decided to move back to the UK. Hugh's dad Liam had a job at the leading sportswear company Adidas, which went through a very distinct rough patch in the few years Liam was allowed to work there. Hugh went to school at All Hallows in Macclesfield and then to Aquinas Sixth Form College in Stockport. His best mates in the Macclesfield years were Jeremy, Jo, Matt and Louise and Chris.

 

After finishing his A-levels he started studying law at Nottingham Trent University. Moving around a lot as a kid can have different effects on you. Many kids then tend to like to stay in one place as they get older. Not Hugh. In the space of a few years he spent time studying or working for banks in Erlangen-Nürnberg, London, Nottingham, Feldkirch, Liechtenstein, Vienna and Zurich. Ok, so Feldkirch is nextdoor to Liechtenstein -- but you get the idea.

 

Eventually he settled on living in Zurich working for Credit Suisse, HSBC and Julius Baer banks during those years. He became good friends with Michael Grob and it is here that he met Martina Vlckova. Martina was originally from Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, but had been living in Zurich for quite some time -- working and studying. After a few years Martina and Hugh moved in together and in 2010 they got married.

 

Martina and Hugh then moved over to Dubai, when Martina had finished her degree and Hugh got an interesting new job at the Deutsche Bank. They both settled in really well and very quickly -- I guess in a desert you could call it acclimatisation. Martina then started working in an educational centre for autistic children.

 

In 2014, Martina and Hugh had a baby: Elizabeth (Lylie) Anna O'Donnell was born! Thank God this also marked the year when Whatsapp really rocketed ... with them all so far away it is great to get that we can stay in touch so closely via messages and video updates.