Mike Smith

Michael George Smith (23 April 1955 – 1 August 2014), also known by the on-air nickname of Smitty, was an English television and radio presenter, racing driver, pilot and businessman. He died on 1 August 2014 from complications of heart failure following major heart surgery. During the 1980s, he co-hosted BBC TV's Breakfast Time and was among rotating presenters of the music show Top of the Pops, broadcast on BBC One. Radio career Smith began his broadcasting career at Chelmsford Hospital radio, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1975 as a freelance producer and presenter. His work included promotions and production work for the Radio 1 Roadshow, Quiz Kid and most daytime network shows. As a standby DJ, Smith occasionally broadcast when live outside broadcasts failed. He joined London's Capital Radio in June 1978 and presented a variety of shows until July 1980, when he became the breakfast show presenter. He moved back to BBC Radio 1 in 1982, presenting the weekday early show from 6 to 7 am and a Saturday-morning show. In 1983, Smith took over the weekday lunchtime show (11.30 am to 2 pm) until March 1984, when he briefly left to present BBC Breakfast Time. He returned to Radio 1 in May 1986, taking over from Mike Read on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show from 7.00 to 9.30 am, where he remained until almost exactly two years later when he left Radio 1 for good in 1988. Smith admitted to Chris Moyles in a BBC documentary aired in May 2010, When Moyles met The Radio 1 Breakfast DJs, he really missed being on the radio, but not television. Television career Smith's career as a television presenter included Thames TV's CBTV, BBC1 entertainment magazine and music chart shows Top of the Pops (1982-1988) Show Business (1983) and Friday's People (1985–87), Noel Edmonds' The Late, Late Breakfast Show (1984–86), That's Showbusiness (1989–96), and Julian Clary's Trick or Treat for ITV.