WHEN Johnny Marr addresses Trinity College's Philosophical Society this week, two things are guaranteed. He will be asked by some hopeful undergraduate whether The Smiths will ever reform;
and the former one-half of one of Britain's greatest songwriting partnerships will politely but firmly explain why this is never, ever going to happen.

Almost exactly 20 years since the band broke up, even as he enjoys the critical and commercial acclaim that has greeted his collaboration with US indie band Modest Mouse, the legacy of The Smiths continues to loom in the background of everything Marr does, despite the fact the chances of a reunion remain as unlikely as ever.

Marr is revered in the music press for being a strikingly talented musician who has managed the improbable . . . he has had success with credible bands after the demise of The Smiths, one of the most influential groups to ever come out of Britain. In interviews, he is matey and unpretentious, in sharp contrast to former bandmate Morrissey, who seems to set out to exasperate the press with his overt dislike of the media.

Marr will talk about any aspect of The Smiths . . . how "smitten" he was with Morrissey when he first met him, the overwhelming pride he has for so many of their songs, the spirit-crushing messiness of the final months of the band . . . no matter how many times he is asked about it.

Physically, he is skinny to the point of being almost fragilelooking. In publicity photographs for Modest Mouse, he stares defiantly at the camera, his shaggy jet-black hair making him look like a younger, cooler Paul Weller. He does not look 43.

"His music has inspired so much of what came afterwards, especially in the popular indie scene, " says Ruth Faller, president of the Phil. "It is a pleasure for the university Philosophical Society to host such a guest."

Like Morrissey, Marr was born to Irish parents who had emigrated in the 1950s.

His parents had left Athy, Co Kildare, when they were still teenagers to settle in Manchester, where he was born on 31 October 1963. He has described his childhood in dark, heady terms: "It was pretty full-on . . . a lot of parties in the house and a lot of drinking and a lot of Catholicismf I remember it as being fairly gothic, really, " he told Mojomagazine earlier this year.

He started playing guitar when he was just 11 and, although he convinced himself early on that he was going to be a musician, for some time he toyed with the idea of becoming a professional footballer. He was approached by Brian Clough's formidable Nottingham Forest team as well as Manchester City, but has dryly noted: "I was probably the only player out there wearing eyeliner."

He had already played in several bands before he was introduced to Stephen Patrick Morrissey in 1982 when he was 19 years old. Both shared a feeling of being different and out of place as they grew up in working-class Irish families during the 1970s and early 1980s, and each recognised this in the other. They roped in Marr's friend Andy Rourke to play bass and Mike Joyce to play drums before they decided to call themselves The Smiths.

Just before The Smiths became famous, Johnny changed his surname from Maher to Marr; mainly because it was easier to pronounce but also because he shared his name with the drummer from The Buzzcocks.

The Smiths could very easily have been desperately uncool.

They quoted poetry, wore gladioli in the back of their trousers and praised the greatness of vegetarianism. At a time when Wham! and Culture Club dominated the charts, they bypassed the gaudy brightness and faux innocence of early 1980s pop in favour of darker and more poignant music. They combined a witty dexterity in their lyrics with a subtly heartbreaking tone in their melodies. They were the antithesis to George Michael and Andrew Ridgley's anodyne pop trillings.

In the uneasiness of Thatcher's Britain, The Smiths tapped in to something that no one else had and they were almost immediately successful. Between 1983 and 1987, the band released four studio albums, received acclaim for their riotous live shows and developed a cult following. Marr's jangly guitar style was much imitated, and his songwriting partnership with Morrissey produced some of the most lingering songs of the decade.

However, by 1986, the cracks were beginning to show. Andy Rourke had developed an addiction to heroin and was kicked out of the band (Morrissey left a post-it on his car windscreen to let him know). Meanwhile, the band had gone through a series of managers, each proving to be unsatisfactory, which led to much disquiet within the band. Marr often found himself doing the work of a manager, leaving him frustrated and impatient. Serious friction arose between the remaining members.

Eventually, in August 1987, Marr quit and the band fell apart. He was still only 23 when he left, having already cemented his reputation as one of the most inventive guitar players of his generation.

His work post-Smiths has been fragmented, to put it mildly. He has played with Crowded House, Bryan Ferry, The Pretenders, Talking Heads, Pet Shop Boys, The The and Kirsty McColl, among others. He has also formed his own bands;

Electronic, and Johnny Marr and The Healers. His have-guitar-will-travel attitude has been gently mocked by some critics who interpret his constant changes as an unfocused attempt on Marr's part to replicate the brilliance of The Smiths with another band. What seems more likely is that he is simply a musician who wants to play as much as he can.

Last year, he started playing with US indie band Modest Mouse, best known in Ireland for their major radio hit 'Float On'. He got on so well with them that he joined full-time; his first album with the band, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank reached No 1 in the US earlier this year, making him the first member of The Smiths to have a No 1 album. He has been married for 22 years to Angie, who he met in Manchester when they were both just 15 years old.

Marr has spoken openly about the animosity between himself and Morrissey, describing it as a "shame" that they can't be friends. They rarely speak, aside from occasional correspondence over remastering The Smiths' back catalogue.

Marr has acknowledged he will always be asked about The Smiths reforming and always answers the question dutifully and honestly. Last year the band were offered $10m to perform three shows; unlike The Police or The Pixies, however, both of whom managed to put aside their differences when offered a pot of cash, the band members have been adamant it's not going to happen.

Morrissey has said he would "rather eat [his] own testicles than reform The Smiths, and that's saying something from a vegetarian". Marr is more sanguine, but perhaps underestimates the enduring appetite for the band to reform: "It was 20 years ago . . . people should get over it."

C

Born: 31 October 1963, Manchester to Irish parents
Occupation: Guitarist in seminal 1980s group The Smiths; former member of The The, Electronic and The Healers; current guitarist with American indie group Modest Mouse
In the news because: On Tuesday, he'll become the latest cultural icon to speak at TCD as a guest of the Philosophical Society