Born in Manchester, educated and grew up in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

Served in the army in National Service in the Far East. Commissioned in the East Lancashire Regiment part of the 48th Ghurka Brigade.

Dunlop Tyre racing manager in the 1960’s with involvement in International Rally Sports Car and Formula 1 racing.

In the late 1960’s had an exchange agreement with a leading Italian Rally Club in respect of Formula 3 and Lancia Fulvia rally cars; which we entered in the British Rally Championship.

Produced and commentated for ITV on motorsport programmes in the Midlands in the 1970’s.

Chief Executive of 3 commercial property companies whose HQ is in The Brampton Newcastle under Lyme and during a 30 year span work has included:

Former property adviser for 10 years to Newcastle Borough Council helping to create some 4000 jobs (see Parkhouse Industrial Estate).

Acted on behalf Michelin Tyres PLC and Wedgewood amongst other locally.

2008 - Founder of the registered charity, SP8 of the Art - Mark Speight Foundation in memory of his son, the former TV presenter of the BBC show SMART among others.

I have know Oliver, Mark's father, for a long time through business connections. Through Oliver I got to know Mark and my firm helped Mark in various areas of his life when the legal need arose.

I know how driven Oliver is to create something utterly wonderful out of his family's personal tragedy and, knowing Oliver, I am sure he will succeed. I am delighted to be part of it and do what I can to help engage young people. I coach a lot of sport to young people and can see how much of a beneficial impact pursuing something that they love doing can have on not only their lives but also the lives of their wider family.

One of Oliver's great mantra's for life is, "you can't argue with a smile" and I hope that SP8 of the Art brings millions of smiles to millions of people - I'm sure it will.

Lee is now the Company Manager of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, the largest producing theatre in the North West staging on average 15 productions per year. Only recently did he take over this position having been a Stage Manager in the entertainment industry for 10 years.

As an Art Director he has delivered over 60 episodes of Hollyoaks for Mersey TV/Lime Pictures and Channel 4 including several late night specials on location in Paris.

As Production Designer he has shot several commercials for TV in the UK and recently completed 30 episodes of Prank Patrol for CBBC where he was also the 'on screen' face teaching the children how to make sets, props, costumes and special effects. This can still be seen on BBC channels.

Lee loves nothing more than being faced with a challenge, the bigger the better. Over the years he has been faced with producing large scale charity events in a matter of weeks/days with no budget; calling upon his contacts through out the entertainment industry and beyond for help.

Lee is looking forward to helping the expansion and growth of Speight of the Art and offering his services as the back-bone to all their events up and down the country. He is very proud to be associated with a Foundation that he knows will make an immense difference to the lives of children in the future.

His remit embraces the development of the city’s community’s through creative consultation and engagement in arts and cultural activities.
In 2006 Paul led on the development and delivery of “Arts at the Heart of Learning” Stoke-on-Trent City Councils Arts Strategy for children and young people. The aim of the strategy is to drive the personal, educational and professional development of children and young people through participation in the arts over the next four years. The priorities at the core of the strategy have informed the development of Paul’s children and young peoples partnership initiatives such as “Culture Matters” a major NRF funded project working with children and young people in local authority care and the development of a city wide Youth Arts Forum

Paul has developed many successful partnership projects with the private/creative sector, community groups, neighbourhood and residents associations within the voluntary sector and city council directorates.
Notably, Paul is the project manager for a number of intervention/change programmes and capital projects such as the SRB6 Waterside Primary public art project, the acclaimed “Projecting Stoke” initiative which engaged 22 communities with professional film-makers over 12 months. Paul is also the lead local authority officer for the award winning health based “Ward Stories” programme which is currently being used by the Department of Health as a tool to challenge the stigma associated with mental health issues in BME communities across the U.K. His most current project is a pilot programme that seeks to address the causes and mindset of worklessness through engagement in arts interventions.