(16 Jul 2013, 2:00 pm)gtomlinson wrote

(16 Jul 2013, 1:21 pm)AdamY wrote Personally, I like T. Dan Smith. Corruption aside, I think that he genuinely wanted to make Newcastle into a better place for people to live, study and work.

I had to a local history project on him prior to pursuing my undergraduate degree at Northumbria University.

You didn't work with Keith Shaw on that did you? He's a mine of information on that subject

No, unfortunately not. I was doing an HEFC at the time so I wasn't really aware of his work. To do the project, the main sources I used were Amber Films' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Utopia; Smith's own 1971 autobiography; Fitzgerald and Taylor's Web of Corruption, and a whole host of material located in the Local History Section of Newcastle Central Library (which was temporarily relocated at the Civic Centre as the library was undergoing refurbishment at the time).

When I went to Northumbria in 2008, I learned about the work of Shaw and others. Every year or so, there is a seminar on Smith. It is usually hosted by Keith Shaw, or his (then) phD student, John Griffiths, both of whom are experts on the man. I have also been to lecture hosted by Chris Forte-Wood (a contemporary of Smith and author of the book T. Dan Smith - Voice of the North) held at the Lit and Phil.