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STEPHEN D SMITH
Solicitor and after dinner speaker Stephen D Smith was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
He is a regular on the After-Dinner Circuit and has made numerous appearances on television and radio, including Calendar for Yorkshire Television, Look North for the BBC, The Trisha Show for Anglia Television and This Morning with Richard and Judy.
He has appeared at the prestigious Yorkshire Post Literary Luncheon with Jonathan Dimbleby and broadcasts regularly on radio for BBC Radio Derby with the celebrated broadcaster John Holmes, BBC Radio Sheffield with Tony Capstick and a legal phone-in on BBC Radio Leeds with Peter Levy.
Steve is also a regular contributor to programmes on Yorkshire Television and has been featured regularly on the 'Tonight' and 'Calendar' programmes.
He was chosen from the ranks of 87,000 solicitors to perform the closing speech at a dinner in honour of Lord Irving, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain and received rave reviews for his performance.
Over the years he has attracted a number of controversial cases, dealing with matters all over the country and in Northern Ireland, including an involvement in the famous Bulger case.
He has represented a large clientele including such notables as the actor and television star Adam Faith, the boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, the controversial featherweight boxing champion of the World, Prince Nazeem Hamed and the comedian Charlie Williams, to name but a few.
Steve also became involved in the famous 'Biker Case'; the story of the Hell's Angel who adhered to the infamous "Code of Silence" following the murder of a youth on Scarborough Meer in 1989.
The biker, John Megson, was eventually freed after a four year campaign, following which Steve wrote his first book, 'Hell is Not for Angels' chronicling the case and the subsequent trial, during which time he featured in two BBC 'Rough Justice' television programmes concerning the case.
He then published 'Boozers Ballcocks & Bail' the highly successful and affectionate look at the workings of the legal profession and the courts, adding a number of highly amusing anecdotes along the way. Adam Faith wrote the foreword and the book received excellent reviews including a report in Hansard following a mention of the book in The House of Commons.
A third book was published at the beginning of 1998 which is a follow-up to the first comedy entitled 'Plonkers Plaintiffs & Pleas', prompting the Yorkshire Post to describe him as "the legal James Herriot."
The book 'Boozers Ballcocks & Bail' came to the attention of comedian Charlie Williams, who liked the humorous style so much that he invited Steve to write his authorised biography, which sold out by spring of the following year and includes contributions from some of the great names of entertainment such as Ken Dodd, Norman Collier, Vince Hill, Roger de Courcey, Gary Wilmot and Sir David Frost.
He released the biography of Britain's greatest Medium, Trisha, called 'Shoebox to Silver Shoes' at the end of 1999 and has completed the script for and performed in a professional pantomime, his fees from which were donated to the Parents' Action Group for Children with Tumours.
His third book in the comedy series, 'Junkies Judges & Jail', was released at the end of 2000 and was reprinted in 2001 after only three months.
He is currently working on the screenplay of one of his comedy books for the theatre.
Steve is currently appearing at theatres across the country in a series of 'Evenings With', introducing such comedy stars as Norman Collier, Bobby Knutt, Duggie Brown and The Grumbleweeds.
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