Linda Smith
This is terrible. I just went on to the Comedy Forum and saw the thread "Linda Smith dies." I followed the link to the BBC news page and there it was. Linda Smith has died, of ovarian cancer, aged just 48. Obviously her close friends will have known she was ill, but I didn't know her that well. This didn't stop a cold chill entering my bones when I read the news story. Poor Linda. I worked with her a few times on the radio, and bumped into her on many an occasion once we'd been introduced (I think by my agent Kate). When 6 Music was starting up, my producer Frank and I had hoped to enlist Linda as a regular guest on my Teatime show. She was really keen, and came in to pilot a session. In the end, she was too busy to commit. And no wonder, the amount of stuff she did. Prior to that, I'd interviewed her for a pilot version of what became My Life In CD on 6 Music (eventually under the aegis of Tracey MacLeod). It was Desert Island Discs, basically, and Linda and I spent a happy hour or so chatting through her life and favourite records. The thing that makes it doubly memorable is that I know the exact date: September 11, 2001. Once we'd finished, in a pokey studio in Western House, we were told that a plane had crashed into a building in New York. We went into a nearby office and watched the second plane crash into the second of the Twin Towers. A day etched on everybody's memory, and now one that I can't help but recall (not the last time I saw her, but the longest amount of quality time I spent with her). I wish to remember Linda as she was: full of life, a really warm and witty person to be around, even on days of international incident. I'm sad that she is gone. Those who knew her better than I did will be even sadder. And anyone who saw her on TV or heard her on the radio will be sad in a different way.