Linda
Smith
A Potted
Biography
 Linda
Smith (1958-2006)
was a comedian, writer, broadcaster,
director and mentor. She lived in
East London but came originally from
Erith in South East London / Kent.
She studied English, Drama and Philosophy
at Sheffield University and joined
a professional touring theatre company
in 1983 (where she met her partner
Warren Lakin) before turning to stand-up
comedy and winning the Hackney Empire
New Act of the Year in 1987.
Throughout
the 1990s she made the annual pilgrimage
to the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe performing
her own stand-up show and also collaborating
with others such as Hattie
Hayridge (Split-Tease), Henry
Normal (The Therapy Sessions),
and Betty Spital (Sex,
Death and The Co-op).
 She
began her professional life as half
of a comedy duo and then toured for
years as a stand-up and was an original
team member of the London
Comedy Store's Cutting
Edge show.
She was widely
regarded as one of the sharpest comics
working on Radio and TV. Her prolific
career on BBC Radio began in the
mid 1990s when she was a regular
panelist on the former Radio Five's
weekly topical news/satire The
Treatment. From there she
graduated to writing and performing
in two critically acclaimed series
of her own BBC Radio 4's situation
comedy Linda
Smith's - A Brief History of Time
Wasting.
She was voted Wittiest
Person by a BBC
Radio 4 listeners poll in 2002 and
was the first woman team
captain and regular on BBC
Radio 4's'News Quiz. She
was also a panel guest on Radio
4's other
legendary shows Just
A Minute and I'm
Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
She appeared on a host of Radio
4 programmes
including Home Truths, The Roots
of English, Word of Mouth, Pick
of The Week, Great Lives about
Ian Dury
and Poetry Please.
Linda made an impact
on TV viewers with a string of winning
appearances on numerous programmes
including Have
I Got News for You, Room
101, Q.I., Mock
The Week, They
Think It's All Over. She also
appeared on Test
The Nation, 'Question
Time, Back
In The Day, Countdown and Call
My Bluff.
From 2000 she toured
her full-length stage show Wrap
Up Warm around the UK to sell
out audiences in theatres, arts centres
and at festivals with a thirty five
date national tour in the Spring
and Summer of 2004. Linda created
an exhilarating evening of sparkling
entertainment for connoisseurs of
stand-up comedy. She was a warm and
witty performer whose inventive show
blended the topical with the personal,
the political with the surreal and
silly.
Despite paying
little attention to awards and accolades,
Linda topped the celebrity list on Test
the Nation and was a British
Comedy Awards nominee for
her stand-up act. She was part
of the Sony Gold Award team on I'm
Sorry I Haven't A Clue Christmas
Carol and was voted
one of the funniest people in London by
Time Out magazine.
Linda loved books,
movies, music, gardening, travel
and comedy. She was also President
of The The
British Humanist Association (BHA).
The BHA is a registered charity which
exists to promote Humanism and support
and represent people who seek to
live good lives without religious
or superstitious beliefs. |
