Mark Speight Obituary

Mark Speight was an English television host and the host of the children’s art show SMart.

Speight was born in the Staffordshire town of Seisdon. He grew up in the Wolverhampton village of Tettenhall with two siblings, Tina-Louise Richmond and Jason Speight.

Speight dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue a career as a cartoonist. He studied commercial and graphic art and heard about auditions for a new children’s art programme while working in television set construction.

Speight was successful in his audition and went on to become one of the first SMart presenters, working on it for 14 years.

Speight’s body was discovered hanging from the roof of MacMillan House, next to London’s Paddington Station, on April 13, 2008.

The discovery was made by railway workers at 10:00 a.m. and British Transport Police confirmed Speight’s body on April 14, 2008.

An inquest into his death began on April 16, 2008, and a post-mortem revealed that he died by hanging. It was then postponed until May 20.

According to police, Speight may have entered the area where he was discovered through a sixth-floor fire exit. Speight’s funeral was held on 28 April at St Michael and All Angels’ Church in Tettenhall and hundreds went to pay their respects.