Noel 'Razor' Smith

Noel "Razor" Smith (born 1960 in London, United Kingdom) has spent the greater portion of his adult life in prison. Whilst in prison he taught himself to read and write, gained an Honours Diploma from The London School of Journalism and an A-Level in Law. He has been awarded a number of Koestler awards for his writing and has contributed articles to the Independent, the Guardian, Punch, the Big Issue, the New Statesman and the New Law Journal. Smith served a life-sentence for armed robbery. His autobiography, A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun was published by Penguin in 2004. He then went on to write A Rusty Gun: Facing Up To a Life of Crime in 2010 after serving at the unique rehabilitation prison HMP Grendon, and moving to HMP Blantyre House and being released on 12 May 2010.

Criminal career

He grew up in the Holloway Road area and in Balham. He was first arrested for stealing apples and at that time had a positive view of the police. However, whilst playing truant from school at the age of 14 with a friend, he was picked up by the burglary squad and was beaten and tortured by them. They were then forced to confess to a series of burglaries that they had never committed. When the. case came to court, he admitted to making-up the burglaries and the magistrate ordered the police to investigate, leading to the charges being dismissed and being recommended to sue the police. This then led to harassment by the police on several occasions, for example raiding the family home to the extent where they had no option but to drop the charges.

Razor Smith

For the American architect and Confederate veteran, see William Crawford Smith.

Razor Smith (William Charles Smith; October 4, 1877, Oxford, Oxfordshire – July 15, 1946, Bermondsey, London) was a Surrey slow bowler. Nicknamed “Razor” because of his extreme thinness, Smith was prone to serious injury and could rarely get through a full season's cricket, but when sound, could command the sharpest off-break among bowlers of his day. He was also able to bowl a somewhat faster ball with a very high flight that turned a little from leg and, with any help from the pitch, would get up almost straight.

This combination meant that when wickets were treacherous Smith generally proved deadly, but in less favourable conditions he was rarely effective and his slight build meant he was unsuited to large amounts of work as a “stock” bowler even though he had the extreme accuracy required. Consequently, he never came into consideration for Test selection, though he showed great ability on many occasions against the very best batting sides.