Portrait of John Hough (Transport for London’s longest serving member of staff – 45 years of service)

Jeremy Deller

London Underground pocket Tube map
1 June 2007 – 30 November 2007

Part of the following series:

Tube Map

Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller designed the sixth in a series of the London Underground pocket Tube map.

Having notched up a total of 542 months service, John Hough is Transport for London’s current longest serving member of staff.

Deller chose to produce a delicate, line-drawn portrait of John Hough with artist Paul Ryan. As more and more elements of the Transport for London system are becoming digitised, the work reminds us of the thousands of people behind the scenes working on the ground to bring it to life.

Paul Ryan

Born in 1968, Paul Ryan lives and works in London. Ryan is currently completing a PhD at The University of the Arts, London on Peirce’s Semeiotic and the Implications for Aesthetics in the Visual Arts. An Extemporary Case Study: The Sketchbook and its Position in the Hierarchies of Making, Collecting and Exhibiting. He has completed a number of international residencies, including The Imperial War Museum, London (2006). His work is held in public, corporate and private collections including: The British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Royal Mint and The Wellcome Trust.

John Hough

Born in 1942 John Hough moved from Tipperary to London when he was 19 through a recruitment drive for the London buses. He worked for 5 years as a Conductor before retraining as a Booking Clerk for London Underground. He now works as a Station Supervisor for Wembley Park. He has spent the last 40 years with the company witnessing many significant changes including the shift from imperial to metric currency as well as the transfer of London Underground to Transport for London.