Radio's Linda Smith dies at 48

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Laurie Taylor just called us from the BBC to say that comedian

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Bollocks.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:12 (twenty years ago)

Hang on.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:12 (twenty years ago)

Laurie Taylor just called us from the BBC to say that comedian Linda Smith, President of the British Humanist Association, and Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Association died today. He says " she combined a delicious and sometimes wicked sense of humour with a real appitite for life. One of her great loves was modern jazz, a passion we shared. Not only was she one of the busiest and most successful comedians in the country but she still found time to be a tireless promoter of humanism." Fellow comedian Mark Steel will pay tribute to Linda on tonight's Front Row - Radio 4 at 7.15 UK time. After then it will be available as a download.

http://www.newhumanist.org.uk/more.php?id=1939_0_1_0_C

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:12 (twenty years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4759968.stm

― StanM (StanM), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:13 (twenty years ago)

I met her once at a party and we had a good old chat about the wonder of Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Too young.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Awww I am gutted :(

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:17 (twenty years ago)

I feel really sad now.
It's funny 'cos I was just watching Red Dwarf on G2 last night (ok, ok, I was bored) and I always got Hattie Hayridge mixed up with Linda Smith for some reason.
Still, Linda was a very funny woman.
Sad :(
Gx

― George C, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:28 (twenty years ago)

This reminds me how much my Radio 4 listening has tailed off recently.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:33 (twenty years ago)

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!

That's really made me depressed, she was so not the dying type and one of the few humourous women who appeared on HIGNFY. This is utterly horrific.

― JTS (JTS), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:41 (twenty years ago)

:(((((
someone i really admired

― zappi (joni), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:45 (twenty years ago)

I met her after (one of) her HIGNFY appearance(s) and she was sweetness personified. How saddening this is.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:48 (twenty years ago)

her description of uptight middle class anal brits as people who 'have to rush home in time to change their AirWick plug-in' made me laugh and laugh for about 5 minutes solid.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:55 (twenty years ago)

How sad, and odd; I was looking at the British Humanist Association earlier today and for the first time in years (non R4 listener) thought about Linda Smith :-(

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:59 (twenty years ago)

Gosh, what a shock.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:04 (twenty years ago)

Very sad

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

RIP.

― Cracks (Crackity), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Oh dear. She seemed like a really nice person.

― Masked Gazza, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 21:06 (twenty years ago)

Fuck, this is awful. She's one of the few female comedy stars in the UK that I really liked, that I could count on to make me laugh. It's to her credit that she was funny as a person, and the fact that she was female didn't enter into it (so many comediennes rely on the fact that they were female above the fact that they were funny, she never did that). I didn't even know she was ill (not that it matters). Like Mike says, a shock. Hopefully the powers that the BBC will put together a showcase of her contributions, that would be well worth watching.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 21:34 (twenty years ago)

― Zora (Zora), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 23:13 (twenty years ago)

What!? This ain't real is it?

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 09:19 (twenty years ago)

This even made the front page of the Daily Sport.

They must have known her personally.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 09:21 (twenty years ago)

:( fuck

― robster (robster), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:16 (twenty years ago)

This even made the front page of the Daily Sport.

I think she was on HIGNFY with Tony Livesay more than anybody else.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:18 (twenty years ago)

This is really awful news. We wondered if she was ill because she was obviously wearing a wig on hignfy. Far too young.

― leigh (leigh), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:36 (twenty years ago)

Very funny woman. This is rubbish news.

― Zoe Espera (Espera), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:37 (twenty years ago)

never a fan but v sad

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:55 (twenty years ago)

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