Chris Smith

He’s also an international chart-topping artist (sort of) and a former champion bellringer (really).

Chris is the author of more than a dozen books including the New Famous Five series, based on the beloved Enid Blyton classics, and The Twits Next Door. He co-created the internationally bestselling Kid Normal series with Greg James which has been translated into more than 20 languages worldwide. He’s also an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and the Primary School Libraries Alliance.

As a broadcaster, Chris has presented the news on Xfm, Virgin Radio and most recently BBC Radio 1 where he was the main voice of the news from 2013-2018.

Chris features on George Michael’s international hit Outside, if you listen carefully.

Chris was born in Northamptonshire in 1973. When he was eight, he won the H E Bates Short Story Competition with a tale about a biscuit-loving dinosaur entitled Where Are the Brandy Snaps? At this point he decided he would be an author when he grew up.

It was also in the town of Raunds that Chris became a champion bellringer as part of the team at St Peter’s Church.

Chris studied English at Queens University Belfast. He then started a career in radio. He became a popular national news broadcaster, working on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show. In 1998, one of his bulletins for Virgin Radio was sampled by George Michael and used on the song Outside. 

Chris then moved to Xfm, setting up the news service for the fledgling station with the help of its then Head of Speech Ricky Gervais.

From 2001-2005 Chris co-hosted the Xfm breakfast show with Christian O’Connell – the team winning a record number of Sony Radio Academy Awards and reaching the top ten twice with their unofficial anthems for the England men’s football team. The show had many famous fans – Chris Martin, Simon Pegg, Kate Winslet and Tony Blair all called in to take part in competitions. 

After the birth of his son in 2007, Chris started freelancing at the BBC where he ran across a fan of his previous show, a new presenter named Greg James. The pair ended up collaborating on Greg’s drivetime show and the award-winning spinoff podcast, That’s What He Said.

In 2017 Chris and Greg published their first book, Kid Normal, which became an instant bestseller, was nominated for the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize and spawned 3 sequels. 

Chris and Greg toured schools in the UK and USA with their live show based on the books, inspiring thousands of kids to come up with their own story ideas.

In 2024 Chris and Greg won the Ruth Rendell award for promoting literacy, in recognition of their work in schools and as ambassadors for the Primary School Libraries Alliance.

After the end of the Kid Normal series, the pair published The Great Dream Robbery, Super Ghost and The Kid Who Fell Through Time. But their biggest triumph was bringing back Roald Dahl’s most ghastly creations for The Twits Next Door which is now published in many languages including French, Spanish and Japanese. Further books about Mr and Mrs Twit will follow in 2027 and beyond.

In 2022 Chris published his first solo book, Frankie Best Hates Quests, inspired by his love of fantasy. A second solo book, Clarity Jones and the Magical Detective Agency, followed in summer 2023.

Chris loved The Famous Five when he was growing up, and was delighted when the publishers of Enid Blyton’s books accepted his idea for a series of sequels. The New Famous Five launched in 2024 with Five and the Forgotten Treasure and the series has won many fans – some of whom may even be royal!

Chris also contributed a new story about Lewis Carroll’s characters Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee for the book Return to Wonderland in 2019, and he and Greg wrote a poem called the Hope-o-potamus for the charity project the Book of Hopes during the Covid lockdown.

Chris lives in London. If he ever has any spare time he likes playing the guitar and going for long walks in the hills.