Stevie Smith

Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971) was an English poet and novelist.

Life

Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull, was the second daughter of Ethel and Charles Smith. She was called "Peggy" within her family, but acquired the name "Stevie" as a young woman when she was riding in the park with a friend who said that she reminded him of the jockey Steve Donoghue.

Her father was a shipping agent, a business that he had inherited from his father. As the company and his marriage began to fall apart, he ran away to sea and Smith saw very little of her father after that. He appeared occasionally on 24-hour shore leave and sent very brief postcards ("Off to Valparaiso, Love Daddy").

When she was three years old she moved with her mother and sister to Palmers Green in North London where Smith would live until her death in 1971. She resented the fact that her father had abandoned his family. Later, when her mother became ill, her aunt Madge Spear (whom Smith called "The Lion Aunt") came to live with them, raised Smith and her elder sister Molly and became the most important person in Smith's life. Spear was a feminist who claimed to have "no patience" with men and, as Smith wrote, "she also had 'no patience' with Hitler". Smith and Molly were raised without men and thus became attached to their own independence, in contrast to what Smith described as the typical Victorian family atmosphere of "father knows best".

Steven Smith (footballer)

Steven Smith (born 30 August 1985) is a Scottish footballer who plays for Kilmarnock.

A left back, Smith made an early breakthrough with Scottish side Rangers, and was capped by Scotland B in 2006, aged 21. A series of injuries hampered his career with club and country, before he moved to England with Norwich City, aged 24, on a Bosman transfer. During his time there he had a loan spell at Aberdeen and then joined Preston North End. He then moved to Portland Timbers and in 2013, returned to Rangers where he spent two years, before moving to Kilmarnock.

Club career

Rangers

Born in Bellshill, Smith signed a professional contract with Rangers on 1 June 2002. He made his Rangers debut against Heart of Midlothian on 28 November 2004 as a half-time substitute for Maurice Ross. He played a further three times that season but had to wait until the winter of 2005 to establish himself in the team. He made twenty top team appearances that season including his UEFA Champions League debut against Villarreal CF on 22 February 2006. He signed a two-year contract extension less than a week later, on 27 February 2006. Smith went on to win the Scottish Premier League young player of the month for April 2006 which cemented his place as first choice left-back at the club.