David Stafford

Who is David Stafford?

David Stafford is a writer, broadcaster and occasional musician born 1949 in Birmingham, England.

Stafford began his career in fringe and community theatre in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he collaborated and toured with Alexei Sayle, which resulted in two series for Capital Radio, two plays for TV, a book, Great Bus Journeys of the World, and various songs and recordings including Doctor Marten's Boots. At the same time he was a presenter on the Channel 4 consumer programme 4 What It’s Worth, contributed to many arts programmes and documentaries including The Media Show and extensively to The Late Show. His TV plays include Dread Poets Society co-written with the poet Benjamin Zephaniah. For ten years he also wrote a weekly column for the Saturday Guardian, eventually called Staffordshire Bull.

During the 1990s, he presented Tracks for BBC2, Going Places for BBC Radio 4 and was a regular panellist on Radio 4’s literary parody game, Booked. More recently he has collaborated with his wife Caroline, writing comedies and dramas, mostly for radio, including Man of Soup, The Brothers, Hazelbeach, The True and Inspirational Life Of St Nicholas,The Day The Planes Came and a series of legal dramas based on the true-life cases of Norman Birkett. Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be their biography of the composer Lionel Bart, published by Omnibus Press in 2011, was chosen as BBC Radio 4's Book of The Week and shortlisted for the Sheridan Morley award. David took over from Pete McCarthy as host of the Radio 4 panel game X Marks the Spot, and frequently stood in for John Peel as the presenter of Home Truths. After Peel's death, he became first one of the pool of presenters and later sole presenter of the programme. He is regular presenter on BBC West's Inside Out.