Michael Smith - a short biography

We've been following Michael ever since he started distributing his first book, The Giro Playboy, in pamphlet form.

We've managed to piece together this biography - the story so far. Hope you find it interesting.


Jezza and Patsy


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Michael Smith (born 1976), the writer and broadcaster, is best known for Michael Smith's Drivetime, a six-part road movie exploring the cultural impact of the car on Britain, broadcast in 2009 by BBC Four.

Press reaction to the series was enthusiastic:

* "You can see why BBC Four has gone for Michael Smith in such a big way. His views on cityscapes and national character are delivered in nuggets of pure poetry"; "hypnotic, lyrical odyssey..." - The Times;

* "Excellent. Brilliant, laconic state-of-the-nation road trip... frequently hilarious, always charming, and occasionally informative... his off-the-cuff comments are as funny as most of telly's scripted ones." -The Guardian;

* "...another of his characteristically thoughtful meditations... a succession of insights into everyday culture... a major new TV talent..." - Time Out;

* "almost grunge... observing it all like Jonathan Meades, JG Ballard and Ray Gosling rolled into one" - The Observer;

* "The novelist Michael Smith, once described as the Hunter S Thompson of Hartlepool, is a bit of a TV one-off..." - The Independent.

Michael Smith's Drivetime followed Citizen Smith, a six-part series examining what it means to be English at the start of the 21st Century. First transmitted on BBC Four in 2008, and directed by Simon Egan, Citizen Smith was also critically acclaimed. Time Out selected it as Best Documentary of 2008: "charmingly eloquent... incisive... an intro to a TV personality brimming over with intelligence and smiley amiability... more of him please."

Each episode in the series was selected as TV Pick Of The Week/Day - by The Radio Times, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer, Time Out, and Metro (London), among others. Both The Guardian and The Independent On Sunday treated it to a full-page feature article.

GQ said: "it's one of the best documentaries (we've) had the pleasure of watching ... we would like to salute the admirable outerwear worn by Michael Smith throughout the series ..."

Time Out called Smith "a new voice in British broadcasting".

Smith's work has a number of distinctive leitmotifs, including a celebration of the beauty of the everyday and a gentle subversion of conventional wisdom. Critical appreciation of his writing focuses on attributes like intelligence, sensitivity and humanity.

He was born in London and grew up in Hartlepool, a coastal town in north east England. Both locations, plus Brighton, feature in his debut novel The Giro Playboy (Faber and Faber, 2006) - "a masterpiece of gutter romanticism", according to Tatler magazine. It was compared to the work of writers as diverse as Jack Kerouac and Morrissey.

Shorty Loves Wing Wong (Faber and Faber, 2007), a prequel to The Giro Playboy, incorporating art by Manchester-based Jim Medway, was the follow-up.

Borders bookshops had helped Smith start his writing career: his first "published" work appeared on a postcard in the window of the London Charing Cross Road branch, after he won a writing competition organised by the retailer.The Borders chain continued its early support by stocking a series of pamphlets which Smith would later work up into The Giro Playboy. (He also distributed the pamphlets - which became collectors' items - to coffee shops, clothing outlets, trendy boutiques and selected bookshops, in London and Brighton.)

Both Faber books were preceded by collectable limited editions, published by Simon Finch and To Hell, respectively. The Simon Finch edition collected together the pamphlets in which Smith had originally self-published The Giro Playboy, together with a CD of readings, set to the original music of collaborator Flora, packaged in a hand-stencilled pizza box.

To Hell's limited edition of Shorty Loves Wing Wong was published as a large format hardback. It was accompanied by an exhibition of Jim Medway's artwork at London's Paul Stolper Gallery.

A third book, The Birds, is due to be published in 2009. It will explore the dynamics of relationships between women and men, "or more accurately", as Smith quipped on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends programme, "women and me".

Smith also writes extensively for the press, and has contributed features to The Observer newspaper, The Idler and Zembla, among others, as well as regular columns for magazines like Dazed & Confused and Good For Nothing.

He frequently performs readings. With Flora, he had a long-running residency at London's Whitechapel Gallery. Recent festival gigs include: Port Eliot, Hay, Clerkenwell, Middlesbrough and Hackney. And he has played one-off gigs in London (Queen Elizabeth Hall, Book Slam, Filthy Macnasty's, Boogaloo, Luminaire, Great Eastern Hotel, Colony Room ... ); regional cities like Newcastle (The Cluny, Morden Tower ... ), Liverpool and Manchester; and in the rest of Europe, including the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The writer has appeared several times alongside DBC Pierre, the Booker Prize winner and has regularly supported singer-songwriter John Power, former frontman of rock bands Cast and The La's.Smith has been heard on numerous BBC radio stations, notably BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, BBC London, and BBC Tees.

He exhibits his artwork: his drawings from The Giro Playboy were shown at London's Hackney Festival. Smith is a graduate of University College London - History Of Art/Slade School of Fine Art.