'My name is Arthur Smith, unless there's anybody here from the Streatham tax office. In which case, I'm Daphne Fairfax.' This has been Arthur's opening line at hundreds of stand-up comedy performances. In fact, he is neither Daphne nor Arthur. Friends and family know him as Brian.
One of the 'alternative comedians' who shook up light entertainment in the eighties and nineties, Arthur (and Brian) is also a broadcaster, an opening bat forGrumpy Old Men, a West End playwright (his plays includeAn Evening with Gary Lineker) and a guest on innumerable radio and TV panel shows.
InMy Name is Daphne Fairfaxhe reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on the bombsites of Bermondsey, a wild-haired undergraduate, a roadsweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient who has been told never to drink again.
Hilarious, scandalous and rude, his memoir incorporates a tender tribute to his parents and a vigorous account of the peculiar business of being alive.
Arthur lives in South London with his beautiful partner Beth and is the mayor of Balham (self-proclaimed). He is still seen on the stages around Britain and at the Edinburgh Festival where he has been reviled, revered and arrested. In 2007 he won the 'Spirit of the Fringe' award and if you want to know any more about me you can buy the sodding book.
