Chris Hughes: Eggheads legend, quizzing expert, fashion icon and now the man at the heart of a social media appeal backed by the likes of Jeremy Vine.
It’s all down to Ben Jones, a fan who pleaded to Facebook users after leaving a signed photo of Hughes on a bus as he was taking it to get framed. This post – made on a community group for Mapperley town – has now been shared over a thousand times, reaching people as far as the USA and South Korea.
Eggheads host Jeremy Vine also tweeted about the appeal to his followers, saying “I know we're all focused on #BBCOurNextPM, but this is important too”.
Jones even appeared on BBC Radio 1, telling breakfast show Greg James that the photo had actually been a gift to a friend. He said the two had "got into this bizarre thing" of sending one another pictures of Eggheads members for "a laugh".
Jones said he spotted the signed picture of Hughes – the “perfect gift” – at a car boot sale in Colwick, but soon lost the image on the number 46 bus in the city.
But despite misplacing Hughes, Jones said the growing social media appeal had been "way more hilarious than the gift". He added: "I would be very shocked and surprised to get it back."
So, can’t Hughes give Jones another signed photo? That was Greg James’ idea, the DJ contacting Vine about a replacement.
Joking the situation was "very serious", Vine said: "One of the reasons there's a very high value on these is because Chris is a sort of Howard Hughes figure - he can only be contacted by letter."
However, Vine added hoped to get a new signed photo in three days’ time.
We've already got our fingers crossed.
