Early Life
Steel was adopted a few days after he was born. He grew up in Swanley, Kent. He was expelled from Swanley Comprehensive School for attending a cricket course at the age of 15, and went on to work in a garage. From there he went on to make his first public performance as a poet.
In the late 1970s his father suffered a mental breakdown and was placed into care at Stonehouse Hospital. The shabby conditions of the home reinforced Steel's political beliefs.
Read more about this topic: Mark Steel
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