Hugh Wood was born in Parbold in Lancashire in 1932. The son of musical parents, he was educated at Oundle School and New College Oxford where he read History. Moving to London in 1954 he studied music with W.S. Lloyd Webber, Iain Hamilton, Anthony Milner and Mátyás Seiber. Like several of his fellow composers in London he started teaching at Morley College. Later he held teaching posts at the Royal Academy of Music, at Glasgow and Liverpool Universities, and later Churchill College, Cambridge.