Smart was born in
Edinburgh and raised in
Kinross. His career in journalism started at
DC Thomson in
Dundee as a junior reporter on the
Evening Telegraph and
Dundee Courier in June 1998. He studied journalism at
Napier University in Edinburgh. Unable to find work in newspapers, Smart worked as a football coach for Dutch company
Coerver between 2001 and 2002. After two football injuries he returned to Scotland to work for Deadline Press and Picture Agency, covering news in the east of Scotland. When the
MTV Europe Music Awards were held in
Edinburgh in 2003, Smart was introduced to
Victoria Newton, then editor of the
Bizarre showbiz column of
The Sun newspaper who gave him shifts for the Sun in London, leading to a three-month contract with the
News of the World. Smart joined
Bizarre at
The Sun in 2004 as Victoria Newton's deputy; then became column editor when she was promoted to head of entertainment in November 2007. His column comprised a 'cabinet' of Pete Samson ("Office of the minister of music"), Danielle Lawler and other deputies. Lawler left to join The
Daily Mirror as a 3am Girl soon after, while Samson now holds the US Editor position at
The Sun. In 2013, he was one of the witnesses to the
helicopter crash at the Clutha pub in Glasgow which killed ten people. Smart became a deputy editor of
The Sun in London in May 2016 but left the paper altogether in November 2016 to focus on business and broadcasting interests. ==Radio==