In 1962, he was at the centre of a storm at the municipal art gallery in Bradford, Yorkshire, when a local councillor, Horace Hird, had one of Uglow's paintings, German Girl, removed from an Arts Council exhibition at the gallery.
Uglow became embroiled in a heated debate at the Bradford municipal art gallery in 1962, when a local politician, Horace Hird, disputed the inclusion of his painting, German Girl, in an exhibition backed by the Arts Council.