Early Life
Smith was born in Dalmally, the son of a headmaster, and grew up in Ardrishaig in Argyll and Bute. He attended Dunoon Grammar School (Dunoon, Cowal), lodging in the town with a landlady and going home during the holidays, before enrolling at the University of Glasgow, where he studied History from 1956 to 1959, and then Law, from 1959 to 1962. He joined the Labour Party in 1956.
He became involved in debating with the Glasgow University Dialectic Society and the Glasgow University Union. In 1962, he won The Observer Mace debating competition, speaking with Gordon Hunter. In 1995, after his death, the competition was renamed the John Smith Memorial Mace in his honour.
After graduating, Smith practised as a solicitor for a year. He was then elected to the Faculty of Advocates, and later to the British Parliament as an MP. He became a Queens Counsel in 1983.
Read more about this topic: John Smith (Labour Party Leader)
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