Linda Smith

What a rotten day. First I was woken up by the noise of some scrote(s) smashing through my back door, and now I hear that the wittiest woman in the world has been taken from us. The scrote(s) found that there was very little worth stealing here, then scarpered when they realised I was in; but the death of Linda Smith really is a loss. I couldn't believe it - surely she was too young to die? She was only 48. I didn't even know she had cancer.

Most days I fill in a TV & Radio survey for GfK and one of the comments I left recently was that any programme featuring Stephen Fry or Linda Smith was an absolute must. I cheered whenever I heard that Linda was going to be one of the panellists on The News Quiz, Just A Minute, Have I Got News For You, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - or any of the other comedy shows on which she was a regular. Not for nothing was she voted "The Wittiest Living Person" by listeners to Radio 4's Word Of Mouth in 2002.

In recent years almost every stand-up comedian has written a novel or two as well - I blame Ben Elton (he probably blames Thatch) - but Linda Smith doesn't seem to have found the time. Perhaps she was too busy writing her own radio show A Brief History of Time Wasting. She did contribute to at least one book though...

Sit-down Comedy: Stand-ups Swap the Stage for the Page

edited by Malcolm Hardee and John Fleming

Of course I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure she would have understood: there are so many ways to waste time but never enough time to waste. Sadly, Malcolm Hardee is also no longer with us either, having drowned early last year. Linda was also the president of the British Humanist Association, so that's one less rational person in the world as well. Her passing leaves us living in a slightly sadder, madder world.

In The Guardian, The News Quiz's chairman Simon Hoggart mentions a couple of Linda's many funny contributions to the show, including this one:

"I do sympathise with Bush and Blair trying to find WMDs. I'm like that with my scissors. I put them down, then I search all over the house, and I never find them. Of course, I do know that my scissors exist."

BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a special tribute edition of The News Quiz on Friday at 6.30pm.

I'll certainly be tuning in, but I won't know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe I'll cry with laughter.