Mark Steel (born 4 July 1960) is an English author, broadcaster, stand-up comedian and newspaper columnist.

[1] He has made many appearances on radio and television shows as a guest panellist, and has written regular columns in The Guardian, The Independent and Daily Mirror.

I knew because my very lovely auntie Gwen would tell the story of how she got talking to a blonde girl, Frances, who had moved into a flat in the same house in London.

So this girl had me in 1960 and I was handed over to Doreen and Ernie.He grew up in Swanley, Kent, and claims he was expelled from school for attending a cricket course without permission: "I thought, fantastic!

He learned that she was from a Scottish working-class family with an active involvement in left-wing politics; she had married an Italian and lived in Rimini.

[…] He said he remembered Frances vividly but it [Steel getting in touch by email] was all a bit of a shock because he had made all the arrangements to have me dispensed with.

But she took the money and didn't go through with it, bless her.In the late 1970s his adoptive father suffered a mental breakdown and was placed into care at Stone House Hospital.

[6] Steel documented his early life, adoption and quest to find his birth parents in an audio book for Audible Productions Who Do I Think I Am?

His musical choices included "Janie Jones" by The Clash, "My Boy Lollipop" by Millie Small and "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine.

[17] During the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, when he was in his 20s, Steel vented his objections to society's injustices via political protests, punk rock, and poetry.

I nearly voted" with Joe Lycett, Lewis Costello and Matt Green in support of left-wing candidates at the Dancehouse theatre in Manchester.

Proceeds went to the respective campaigns of Gayle O'Donovan of the Green Party of England and Wales in Manchester Central, David Joseph Henry, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for Salford and Eccles and Kay Philips of the Respect Party in Blackley and Broughton.

Prior to the 2015 UK general election, he endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas.