Smith was educated at
Hampton Grammar School and
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he read Modern Languages. On starting his writing career, to distinguish himself from other writers of the same name he added the initial "H", representing his grandmother's maiden name, Hockley. Since 1960 his home has been in Bristol. From 1965 to 1969 he was Senior Research Associate at
Richard Hoggart's
Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at
Birmingham University, and he has held visiting posts at the Universities of Bristol, Bournemouth, and Texas (Austin). From 1964 to 1973 he did literary work for the
Royal Shakespeare Company, and later some for the
National Theatre. In 1971,
Peter Brook invited him to Iran for three months to write a book about the
Orghast project that Brook and
Ted Hughes were undertaking. He was a director of the
Cheltenham Literature Festival in 1978, 1979, and 1999. He has two daughters, Imogen and Sophie, and a son,
Oliver Smith. == Bibliography ==