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About the Author

Sir Paul Smith was born in Nottingham, England on 5th July 1946. An avid cyclist until he was seventeen, when a road accident put paid to his competitive dreams, through a new friendship group Paul found himself amongst a new world of creatively minded young people and from there embarked on a life-long journey of discovery and exploration in design, music and fashion. From its origins in one small shop in Nottingham, England, Paul Smith has grown into a global business, selling to five continents, over seventy countries and 3,000 shops. Paul Smith remains an independent company, with Paul Smith himself holding the majority stake. Paul was Knighted in the 2000 Birthday Honours and appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to fashion. He is the Official Tailoring Partner for Manchester United Football Club. In 2022, in co-partnership with MUFC a limited-edition Paul Smith Stan Smith adidas trainer was released. In 2023, Paul curated a major retrospective of Picasso works at the Musée Picasso in Paris. The exhibition has been seen by over 200,000 people. Richard Williams writes about sport and music for the Guardian. He is the author of The Last Road Race, Long Distance Call: Writings on Music, The Death of Ayrton Senna and Enzo Ferrari: A Life. His previous jobs include chief sportswriter for the Independent, editor of the Independent on Sunday's Review, editor of Time Out and the Melody Maker and head of A&R at Island Records. He has written for Granta, the TLS, Mojo, The Word, and many other publications.