Driving Miss Smith: A Memoir of Linda Smith

by WarrenLakin (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $4.23

  Linda Smith (1958-2006) was a national treasure and voted 'wittiest person alive' on Radio 4. From her childhood in Erith -- featuring her 'sweet smiling fascist grandmother' and holidays abroad (to the Isle of Wight) -- to her early stand-up days and comedy career, Warren Lakin recalls Linda's story and their life together. Warren was Linda's lover, companion and chauffeur from their first meeting, driving her to her tour, radio and TV gigs, and later to hospital appointments as her cancer took hold. This is the moving and often hilarious story of a life lived with wit, humour and grace under pressure.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.75

  In February 2006 the comedian Linda Smith died from ovarian cancer. Over the previous ten years Linda had established herself as one of the nation's funniest and best-loved comedians, voted the 'wittiest person alive' by BBC Radio 4 listeners. As any regular listener will testify, Linda was an acerbic political commentator, but she also had an eye for the absurdities of modern life - an eye to rival Alan Bennett or Victoria Wood. In DRIVING MISS SMITH, Warren Lakin, Linda's partner for twenty-three years, tells Linda's life story, of growing up in a town called Erith, which wasn't twinned with anywhere, 'but does have a suicide pact with Dagenham,' and of becoming a much-loved Radio 4 fixture. It is a witty and moving memoir, and although it ends sadly, it is ultimately a hopeful book and a fitting tribute to a life filled with warmth, courage and laughter.