T. Dan Smith – Hero or Villain?

A waiting list for ticket returns will be taken on the lecture theatre door from 5.30pm.

Examining the motivations and legacies of the still controversial local politician.

Over three decades since he died, T. Dan Smith remains one of Newcastle’s most controversial figures. As leader of Newcastle City Council in the early 1960s and then as Chairman of the Northern Economic Planning Council, Smith spearheaded many of the most transformative projects of that era, aspiring – with the aid of chief planner, Wilfred Burns – to reimagine Newcastle as the ‘Brasília of the North’.

From vast slum clearances and destruction of old Eldon Square to the building of the central motorway – even at the time, many of projects Smith instigated and oversaw were highly controversial. And accusations of corruption, which would ultimately lead to his conviction and imprisonment, have irrevocably tainted his legacy – personally and of the projects he was associated.

In this event, speakers bring Smith into focus. What drove his modernising mission? To what extent was his vision unique to him – and to Newcastle and the North East – and how far was it shaped by the prevailing ideas of the time? Do we still live in the city that T. Dan Smith made?

Speakers

John Griffiths – Historian and adult education lecturer. He gained a PhD in 2020 for his research and thesis ‘Mr Newcastle. The Career of T Dan Smith’.

John Pendlebury – Professor of Urban Conservation, Newcastle University. Author of Conserving the Historic Environment (Lund Humphries, 2021).

Peter Roberts – member of the Amber Film & Photography Collective since 1972. Director of Photography on the film T. Dan Smith: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Utopia (1987).

Joan Keen – Town planner who worked in the Newcastle City Council planning office in the early 1960s. Former Director of the Newcastle Architecture Workshop.

Part of ‘This Was The Future’ – a series of events with expert speakers tackling the big questions and key issues around Tyneside’s 1960s and 1970s transformations.

Event Recording

If you cannot make it on Oct 24th, please follow this link to view a recording of the talk after the event.

Image credit: T. Dan Smith in Cruddas Park, west end of Newcastle, 1960s. Image Courtesy of Amber Collective