- published: 12 Jul 2017
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Mark Steel is an English comedian, broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author. A stand-up comedian known for his left-wing beliefs (he was a long-standing member of the Socialist Workers Party) he has made many appearances on radio and television shows as a guest panellist, and has written regular columns in The Guardian and The Independent. He is perhaps best known for presenting The Mark Steel Lectures, The Mark Steel Revolution, The Mark Steel Solution and Mark Steel's in Town.
Steel was adopted 10 days after he was born. His adoptive father worked in insurance and his mother was a housewife who supplemented the family's income through factory work and working as a lollipop lady. He had a close relationship with his adoptive parents. He grew up in Swanley, Kent. He traced his biological mother later in life but she said that she did not want to know him. She died soon after Steel attempted to contact her. He learned that she was from a Scottish working-class family with an active involvement in left-wing politics, and that she had subsequently married an Italian and lived in Rimini. She had met his biological father, an Egyptian Sephardic Jew whose family left Egypt after Gamal Abdel Nasser became president in the 1950s, at a party in London. His father had subsequently become a multi-millionaire trader on Wall Street, as well as a backgammon champion.
Mark may refer to:
Steels are alloys of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, widely used in construction and other applications because of their high tensile strengths and low costs. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the crystal lattices of iron atoms.
The carbon in typical steel alloys may contribute up to 2.1% of its weight. Varying the amount of alloying elements, their formation in the steel either as solute elements, or as precipitated phases, retards the movement of those dislocations that make iron comparatively ductile and weak, and thus controls qualities such as the hardness, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. Steel's strength compared to pure iron is only possible at the expense of ductility, of which iron has an excess.
Although steel had been produced in bloomery furnaces for thousands of years, steel's use expanded extensively after more efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century for blister steel and then crucible steel. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century, a new era of mass-produced steel began. This was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron.
The Mark Steel Lectures are a series of radio and television programmes. Written and delivered by Mark Steel, each scripted lecture presents arguments for the importance of a historical figure.
The lectures were originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 over three series between 1999 and 2002. Many of the arguments were illustrated by miniature sketches. These sketches featured Mark Steel, Martin Hyder, Mel Hudson, Carla Mendonça, Femi Elufowoju Junior and Debbie Isitt. The first series was subtitled "A series of lectures about Englishmen who changed the course of history", with the remaining two changing this to "A series of lectures about people with a passion". The first series was produced by Phil Clark; the others by Lucy Armitage. The lecture on Ludwig van Beethoven (2003) was nominated for a Sony Radio Comedy Award.
The programme transferred to television in 2003, with an Open University series on BBC Four, which was later repeated on BBC Two. This variously featured:
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It will cease to be produced in a print edition from late March 2016, but will continue in an online form.
The Independent was launched in 1986 and is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The current editor, Amol Rajan, was appointed in 2013, and its former deputy editor, Archie Bland, in 2012. Bland was one of the youngest people to be appointed to a senior managerial post in the British newspaper industry, at 28 years old. Rajan was not quite 30 at the time of his appointment in June 2013.
Nicknamed the Indy, it was originally a broadsheet newspaper, the newspaper has been published in a tabloid or "compact" format since 2003.The Independent is regarded as coming from the centre-left, on culture and politics, but tends to take a more pro-market stance on economic issues. It has not affiliated itself with any political party and features a range of views given on its editorial and comment pages. The paper originally described itself as "free from party political bias, free from proprietorial influence"—a banner it carried on the front page of its daily edition. This banner was dropped in September 2011.
Health service unions complain about the number of nurses who rely on food banks. So instead of raising their wages, we should introduce a grape tax, in which anyone visiting a sick relative in hospital has to take four grapes from each bunch they bring in, and give it to a nurse Follow The Independent on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentOnline Watch more from The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/video
It’s as if we found out the dinosaurs didn’t become extinct because of a massive meteor striking the Earth, but when a clumsy stegosaurus got his fin caught in a tree, and all the others tripped over him and couldn’t get back up again. Read the original piece here: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-nuclear-weapons-holocaust-world-war-three-a7886901.html Follow The Independent on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependent Watch more from The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/video
As the Conservatives continue their talks with the Democratic Unionist Party, columnist Mark Steel looks over the possibilities that lie ahead for the new parliament. Follow The Independent on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentOnline Watch more from The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/video
As Theresa May declines to participate in a succession of TV debates and media appearances in the run-up to the General Election in order to concentrate on Brexit, Independent columnist Mark Steel considers how she'd probably love to get her hands on whoever called it in the first place.
If Labour wins we could pay-per-view Jeremy Corbyn meeting Donald Trump and fund the NHS for a year...
An excerpt from the wonderful Mark Steel's set at NHS In Stitches. To see the whole film please check out the NHS In Stitches channel. NHS In Stitches is brought to you by an army of volunteers including some of Britain's best comedic talents: Lucy Porter, Stewart Lee, Junior Simpson, Mark Steel, Wendy Wason, Nish Kumar, Francesca Martinez, Slim, Kerry Godliman, Pappy's, Rufus Hound, and Ed Bennett. On the 28th March 2015 at the Hackney Empire in London, the all-star line up lent their (often quite loud, always hilarious) voices to our call to stand up for the nation’s proudest achievement and most treasured institution: Our NHS. Please watch and share widely. This 37minute film is based on the 2 hour live event. It features a selection of the fantastic stand up sets, sketches, short fi...
Mark Steel Sums Up Austerity. BBC Question Time.
Clip from 2014 DVD 'Mark Steel's Back In Town' Full show is available to download from: http://www.laughingstock.co.uk
Several Conservatives have taken issue with Labour’s pledge to be ‘extremely cautious’ before using the nuclear deterrent. What sort of 1970s nonsense is that? If you’re going to be extremely cautious about dissolving millions of civilians in an apocalyptic firestorm, you might as well bring back outside toilets.
Mark Steel Lectures - Karl Marx. First broadcast November 2003
Health service unions complain about the number of nurses who rely on food banks. So instead of raising their wages, we should introduce a grape tax, in which anyone visiting a sick relative in hospital has to take four grapes from each bunch they bring in, and give it to a nurse Follow The Independent on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentOnline Watch more from The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/video
It’s as if we found out the dinosaurs didn’t become extinct because of a massive meteor striking the Earth, but when a clumsy stegosaurus got his fin caught in a tree, and all the others tripped over him and couldn’t get back up again. Read the original piece here: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-nuclear-weapons-holocaust-world-war-three-a7886901.html Follow The Independent on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependent Watch more from The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/video
As the Conservatives continue their talks with the Democratic Unionist Party, columnist Mark Steel looks over the possibilities that lie ahead for the new parliament. Follow The Independent on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentOnline Watch more from The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/video
As Theresa May declines to participate in a succession of TV debates and media appearances in the run-up to the General Election in order to concentrate on Brexit, Independent columnist Mark Steel considers how she'd probably love to get her hands on whoever called it in the first place.
If Labour wins we could pay-per-view Jeremy Corbyn meeting Donald Trump and fund the NHS for a year...
An excerpt from the wonderful Mark Steel's set at NHS In Stitches. To see the whole film please check out the NHS In Stitches channel. NHS In Stitches is brought to you by an army of volunteers including some of Britain's best comedic talents: Lucy Porter, Stewart Lee, Junior Simpson, Mark Steel, Wendy Wason, Nish Kumar, Francesca Martinez, Slim, Kerry Godliman, Pappy's, Rufus Hound, and Ed Bennett. On the 28th March 2015 at the Hackney Empire in London, the all-star line up lent their (often quite loud, always hilarious) voices to our call to stand up for the nation’s proudest achievement and most treasured institution: Our NHS. Please watch and share widely. This 37minute film is based on the 2 hour live event. It features a selection of the fantastic stand up sets, sketches, short fi...
Mark Steel Sums Up Austerity. BBC Question Time.
Clip from 2014 DVD 'Mark Steel's Back In Town' Full show is available to download from: http://www.laughingstock.co.uk
Several Conservatives have taken issue with Labour’s pledge to be ‘extremely cautious’ before using the nuclear deterrent. What sort of 1970s nonsense is that? If you’re going to be extremely cautious about dissolving millions of civilians in an apocalyptic firestorm, you might as well bring back outside toilets.
Mark Steel Lectures - Karl Marx. First broadcast November 2003
Mark Steel Lectures - Karl Marx. First broadcast November 2003