Meet Mark Steel
Mark Steel
Mark Steel's welcome
Mark Steel extends a warm welcome to the lectures, and explains why he believes Freud's theory about Oedipal complexes wouldn't get past discarded trainers and empty pizza boxes.
A regular on the British comedy circuit, Mark Steel has been a touring stand-up comedian for twenty years. He's written and presented four series of The Mark Steel Solution for BBC Radio 4, and a further four series of The Mark Steel Lectures, now re-created and revised for BBC FOUR. He's written for the Guardian and currently has a weekly column in the Independent and has published the books It's Not A Runner Bean - Dispatches from a Slightly Successful Comedian and Reasons To Be Cheerful. The latter, in which he relates his minor role in every major political event of the last twenty-five years, was described by Things Can Only Get Better author John O'Farrell as "The second best book I have read about growing up under Thatcher and Major."
Mark has appeared on the panels for Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You? and Question Time.
When not writing his weekly column for the Independent or broadcasting for the BBC, Mark can be found watching Crystal Palace play football during winter or following Kent County Cricket Club in summer.
Mark’s third and most recent book Vive La Revolution examines the more bizarre occurrences and extraordinary characters within the French Revolution.








