Linda Smith (comedian)
Encyclopedia
Linda Helen Smith was a British
stand-up comic
and comedy writer. She appeared regularly on Radio 4
panel games, and was voted "Wittiest Living Person" by listeners in 2002. She met her partner, Warren Lakin, at university, and they were together for nearly 30 years until her death.
in Kent
in 1958 and was educated at Erith College (now Bexley College
), and gained a place at University of Sheffield
, graduating in English and Drama. She joined a professional theatre company and turned to comedy. In 1987, she won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
, then known as the New London Comic Award, and performed on the Edinburgh Fringe before breaking into radio comedy.
Much of her early stand-up appearances were benefit concerts, staged in solidarity with the British miners during the Miners Strike
in the 1980s. Smith was a lifelong socialist.
Her first appearances on national radio were on Radio 5's The Treatment in 1997. She was subsequently a regular panellist on The News Quiz
and Just a Minute
, and appeared frequently on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
(from June 2001 onwards), Have I Got News for You
, Mock the Week
, Countdown
and QI
. She wrote and starred in her own Radio 4 sitcom, Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting
.
After appearing on Radio 4's Devout Sceptics to discuss her beliefs she was asked by the British Humanist Association
(BHA) to become president of the society, a role she occupied with great commitment from 2004 until her death.
In 2002, she was voted 'Wittiest Living Person' by listeners to BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth. During The News Quiz she would often mockingly use Richard Littlejohn
's catchphrase "to hell in a handcart".
. Before she died, she chose that her funeral be humanist
and her memorial at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East on 10 March, was dedicated to the BHA
. Smith's life and work was honoured at the British Academy Television Awards
in 2006. The first episode of Dawn French's Girls Who Do: Comedy
, was dedicated to the memory of Linda Smith. Her obituaries described her style as beguiling, apparently vulnerable and whimsical but often waspish. She excelled at deadpan diatribes about everyday irritations. A typical and frequently quoted joke was her labelling of former home secretary David Blunkett
as "Satan's bearded folk singer". She also famously retorted, in relation to not giving Jeffrey Archer the oxygen of publicity, "I'm not that happy with him having the oxygen of oxygen actually"
Two tribute gigs were held in her memory. The first took place on 14 May 2006, at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
, In Praise of an English Radical, the second on 4 June 2006, at the Victoria Palace Theatre
, London
, entitled Tippy Top: An Evening of Linda Smith's Favourite Things. In August 2006, Andy Hamilton
presented a BBC Radio 4
tribute entitled Linda Smith: A Modern Radio Star. An anthology on CD entitled I Think the Nurses Are Stealing My Clothes: The Very Best of Linda Smith, as well as a book of the same name were released in November 2006. A tribute show of the same name was aired on BBC Radio 4 on 10 November 2006. Smith's sell-out stage show Wrap Up Warm has been available on CD from November 2006.
Linda Smith was working on a third series of A Brief History of Timewasting before she became incapacitated by her illness; as a tribute, digital radio station BBC 7
ran the previous two series, the first all on one day.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
stand-up comic
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
and comedy writer. She appeared regularly on Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
panel games, and was voted "Wittiest Living Person" by listeners in 2002. She met her partner, Warren Lakin, at university, and they were together for nearly 30 years until her death.
Life
Smith was born in ErithErith
Erith is a district of southeast London on the River Thames. Erith's town centre has undergone a series of modernisations since 1961.-Pre-medieval:...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
in 1958 and was educated at Erith College (now Bexley College
Bexley College
Bexley College is a general further education college in the London Borough of Bexley, England. It has two campuses at Tower Road and Upper Holly Hill Road.-History:It opened in 1907 as Erith Technical Institute....
), and gained a place at University of Sheffield
University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
, graduating in English and Drama. She joined a professional theatre company and turned to comedy. In 1987, she won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year was a long-running annual competition that ran at the Hackney Empire theatre in London in order to encourage, discover and promote new stand-up comedy and New Variety talent...
, then known as the New London Comic Award, and performed on the Edinburgh Fringe before breaking into radio comedy.
Much of her early stand-up appearances were benefit concerts, staged in solidarity with the British miners during the Miners Strike
Miners strike
Miner's strikes are when miners conduct strike actions.* UK miners' strike * African Mine Workers' Strike 1946* Asturian miners' strike of 1934* Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894* Bituminous Coal Miners' Strike 1894, 1974, 1977...
in the 1980s. Smith was a lifelong socialist.
Her first appearances on national radio were on Radio 5's The Treatment in 1997. She was subsequently a regular panellist on The News Quiz
The News Quiz
The News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
and Just a Minute
Just a Minute
Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....
, and appeared frequently on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
(from June 2001 onwards), Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, Mock the Week
Mock the Week
Mock the Week is a British topical celebrity panel game hosted by Dara Ó Briain that launched in 2005. The game is influenced by improvised topical stand-up comedy, with several rounds requiring players to deliver answers on unexpected subjects on the spur of the moment.It is made by independent...
, Countdown
Countdown (game show)
Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
and QI
QI
QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
. She wrote and starred in her own Radio 4 sitcom, Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting
Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting
Linda Smith’s A Brief History of Timewasting was a BBC Radio 4 situation comedy series written by and starring the late Linda Smith. It ran for two series of six episodes each from July 2001 until July 2002....
.
After appearing on Radio 4's Devout Sceptics to discuss her beliefs she was asked by the British Humanist Association
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
(BHA) to become president of the society, a role she occupied with great commitment from 2004 until her death.
In 2002, she was voted 'Wittiest Living Person' by listeners to BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth. During The News Quiz she would often mockingly use Richard Littlejohn
Richard Littlejohn
Richard William Littlejohn is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He is noted for his Conservative views and currently writes a twice-weekly column for the Daily Mail....
's catchphrase "to hell in a handcart".
Death
On 27 February 2006, Smith died at the age of 48, following a battle with ovarian cancerOvarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
. Before she died, she chose that her funeral be humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and her memorial at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East on 10 March, was dedicated to the BHA
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
. Smith's life and work was honoured at the British Academy Television Awards
British Academy Television Awards 2006
The 2006 British Academy Television Awards were held on Sunday 7 May at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The ceremony was broadcast on the ITV Network, hosted by television presenter Davina McCall...
in 2006. The first episode of Dawn French's Girls Who Do: Comedy
Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy
Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy is an interview series shown on BBC Four. In the series, Dawn French interviewed some of the most prolific comedians of the century from Phyllis Diller to Catherine Tate and asked about life, love, family and comedy...
, was dedicated to the memory of Linda Smith. Her obituaries described her style as beguiling, apparently vulnerable and whimsical but often waspish. She excelled at deadpan diatribes about everyday irritations. A typical and frequently quoted joke was her labelling of former home secretary David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
as "Satan's bearded folk singer". She also famously retorted, in relation to not giving Jeffrey Archer the oxygen of publicity, "I'm not that happy with him having the oxygen of oxygen actually"
Two tribute gigs were held in her memory. The first took place on 14 May 2006, at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
Lyceum Theatre (Sheffield)
-History:Built in 1897 following a traditional proscenium arch design, the Lyceum is the only surviving theatre outside of London designed by the famous theatre architect W.G.R. Sprague and the last example of an Edwardian auditorium in Sheffield...
, In Praise of an English Radical, the second on 4 June 2006, at the Victoria Palace Theatre
Victoria Palace Theatre
Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station.-Origins:The theatre began life as a small concert room above the stables of the Royal Standard Hotel, a small hotel and tavern built in 1832 at what was then 522 Stockbridge...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, entitled Tippy Top: An Evening of Linda Smith's Favourite Things. In August 2006, Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter and radio dramatist.-Early life:...
presented a BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
tribute entitled Linda Smith: A Modern Radio Star. An anthology on CD entitled I Think the Nurses Are Stealing My Clothes: The Very Best of Linda Smith, as well as a book of the same name were released in November 2006. A tribute show of the same name was aired on BBC Radio 4 on 10 November 2006. Smith's sell-out stage show Wrap Up Warm has been available on CD from November 2006.
Linda Smith was working on a third series of A Brief History of Timewasting before she became incapacitated by her illness; as a tribute, digital radio station BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
ran the previous two series, the first all on one day.
Books
- Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm HardeeMalcolm HardeeMalcolm Hardee was an English comedian, author, comedy club proprietor, compère, agent, manager and "amateur sensationalist"....
& John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN 0-09-188924-3; ISBN 978-0-09-188924-1
External links
- A Brief History of Timewasting BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
- Anarchist with attitude (interview) by Laurie Taylor New HumanistNew HumanistNew Humanist is a monthly magazine published by the Rationalist Association in the UK. It has been in print for 125 years; starting out life as Watts's Literary Guide, founded by C. A. Watts in November 1885....
, 6 September 2004 - Radio comedian Linda Smith dies BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 28 February 2006 - Obituary: Linda Smith BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 28 February 2006 - Jeremy Hardy pays tribute BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 28 February 2006 - Obituary by Mark Steel The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 1 March 2006 - Obituary by Jeremy Hardy, containing many biographical details The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 1 March 2006 - News Quiz colleagues pay tribute The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 2 March 2006 - Linda Smith: God, the biggest joke of all The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 2 March 2006 - President of the British Humanist Association, 2004 - 2006 British Humanist AssociationBritish Humanist AssociationThe British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
Video
- Linda Smith talking about Just a Minute BBC2, ArenaArenaAn arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
, 26 December 2005 (RealVideoRealVideoRealVideo is a suite of proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks – the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and is at version 10. RealVideo is supported on many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and several mobile...
)
Audio
- Linda Smith explores Auvergne & Corsica BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, 12 April 2005 - The Limited Power of Satire/Linda's Rise from Obscurity BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, The News QuizThe News QuizThe News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
, 7 September 2005 - Linda Smith has her eye on the Chairman's seat BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, The News QuizThe News QuizThe News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
, 6 February 2006 - Interview with Jenny Colgan, containing tribute BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, Woman's HourWoman's HourWoman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.-History:Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey the programme was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's Light Programme . It was transferred to its current home in 1973...
, 1 March 2006