Mark Speight

English television presenter (1965–2008)

Mark Warwick Fordham Speight (6 August 1965 – 7 April 2008) was an English television presenter and host of children's art programme SMart. Speight was born in Seisdon, Staffordshire, and left school at 16 to become a cartoonist. He took a degree in commercial and graphic art and, while working in television set construction, heard of auditions for a new children's art programme. Speight was successful in his audition and became one of the first presenters of SMart, working on it for 14 years. Speight was also a presenter on See It Saw It, where he met his future fiancée, actress and model Natasha Collins. He took part in live events, such as Rolf on Art and his own Speight of the Art workshops for children. He was involved in charity work; he became the president of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign's Young Pavement Artists Competition, and was a spokesperson for ChildLine. In January 2008, Speight found Collins's body in the bath of their shared London flat. He was arrested on suspicion of her murder, but not charged with any offence. An inquest later determined that Collins had died of a drug overdose and severe burns from hot water, and it was death by misadventure. In April that year, Speight was reported missing and was later discovered to have hanged himself near Paddington station. Two suicide notes were discovered, describing how he could no longer live without Collins.

Speight was born in Seisdon, Staffordshire. He grew up in the village of Tettenhall, Wolverhampton and had two siblings, Tina Louise Richmond (née Speight), and Jason Speight. His father, Oliver Warwick Speight, is a property developer, and his mother, Jacqueline Fordham Speight (née Parker), was an art teacher. Jacqueline died on 5 September 2008, aged 62. Speight attended the private school Tettenhall College for a year, before moving to state comprehensive Regis School, now known as King's C. E. School, also in Tettenhall, at the age of 12. Speight stated in an interview he was a slow learner at school, with a short attention span, and art was a way for him to communicate.

Speight intended to become a cartoonist, but he eventually became a TV presenter following a job painting the set of a television production. he went on to present SMart from its first edition in 1994. Speight also worked on This Morning, The Heaven and Earth Show, Speight also played the king on children's programme See It Saw It, where he met Natasha Collins. Speight regularly toured with Speight of the Art, a series of art workshops he ran for children, In 2007, he was the presenter of the Müller Big Art Project for Comic Relief in Trafalgar Square. Speight was questioned by police and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder and of supplying Class A drugs, but was released on bail until the first week of February. Because of this, the BBC cancelled the Saturday repeat edition of SMart. An inquest, which opened on 8 January 2008, heard that the death was not thought to be suspicious but should be "subject to further investigation". At that point, police were awaiting results of toxicology tests after a postmortem examination was inconclusive. Speight denied any involvement with Collins's death,

In April 2008, the coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure in relation to Collins. The cause of death was "cocaine toxicity and immersion in hot water", according to the consultant pathologist. The inquest found that she had taken "very significant" amounts of cocaine with sleeping pills and vodka, and that she had suffered 60% burns to her body, including her tongue. Speight planned to meet with Collins's mother at Covent Garden for coffee on the afternoon of 7 April. He was dropped off at Wood Green tube station that morning, but never appeared at the planned meeting. Speight missed an appointment with a counsellor, but this was because of confusion over dates. Two police officers spoke to him, as he appeared "vacant", "distracted" and "deep in thought", but he refused their help. He was captured on CCTV in the afternoon taking money from a cash machine at Queen's Park station, and he subsequently boarded a southbound Bakerloo line train.

On 13 April 2008, Speight's body was discovered hanging from the roof of MacMillan House, adjacent to London's Paddington Station, hidden from public view. The discovery was made by railway workers at 10:00 am, and British Transport Police confirmed that the body was Speight's on 14 April 2008. An inquest into his death opened on 16 April 2008, and a post mortem confirmed the cause of death as hanging. It was then adjourned until 20 May. The police said Speight may have used a sixth floor fire exit to get to the area where he was found. Speight's funeral was held on 28 April at St Michael and All Angels' Church in Tettenhall and hundreds went to pay their respects. The service included a performance by the choir from Tettenhall College, Speight's former school, and his coffin was carried out of the church accompanied by the theme tune of SMart. He was later cremated and his ashes were interred in Tettenhall. In May, the inquest resumed and determined that Speight was deeply depressed by his fiancée's death. It was also disclosed that suicide notes had been found, one in his left pocket, and one addressed to his parents in his diary at his home. The notes described how he could not "contemplate life without [Collins]". The coroner, Paul Knapman, said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. In May 2008, Speight's father created a foundation, Speight of the Art, or SP8 of the Art and launched it at a memorial service that took place on what would have been his 43rd birthday, 6 August 2008, at St Paul's Church in Covent Garden, London.