Giles Smith was born in Colchester in 1962. He was the keyboard player in a pop group called the Cleaners from Venus but reluctantly resigned himself to working as a journalist when the Cleaners didn’t go global. His failure to make it as a musician was the topic of his first book, Lost In Music (1995) reissued in July 2023, and has been the subtext of anything he has said or done since. He has written for the Independent, the New Yorker, the Sunday Times and The Times and has been named Sports Columnist of the Year. His sports writing has been gathered in two collections: Midnight in the Garden of Evel Knievel (2000) and We Need To Talk About Kevin Keegan (2008). He also contributed a monologue to the Nick Hornby edited short-story collection, Speaking With The Angel. His cultural history of ABBA, My My! ABBA Through the Ages, will be published in 2024. Giles Smith lives in South London with his family.

Books in order of publication:

Lost in Music (1995)

Midnight in the Garden of Evel Knievel (2000)

We Need to Talk About Kevin Keegan (2008)