Martin Bell (born August 31, 1938) is a British former broadcast news reporter and politician, son of author Adrian Bell. Martin Bell (born 6 December 1964 at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus) was a British skier. ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining, as the final day of August. ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Adrian Bell (1901-1980) grew up in South London but at the age of 19 went off to the countryside in Suffolk to learn about farming. ...

He joined the BBC as a reporter in Norwich in 1962 as a 24 year old, following his graduation from King's College, Cambridge with a first-class honours degree. He moved to London three years later, beginning a distinguished career as a foreign affairs correspondent with his first assignment in Ghana. Over the next 30 years he covered 11 conflicts and reported from 80 countries, making his name with coverage of the war in Vietnam, and also covering wars in the Middle East, Nigeria, Angola and Rwanda, as well as making many reports on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national publicly funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the English city. ... Full name The Kings College of Our Lady and St Nicholas Motto Veritas Et Utilitas Truth and usefulness Named after Henry VI Previous names - Established 1441 Sister College New College Acting Provost Dr Tess Adkins Location Kings Parade Undergraduates 397 Graduates 239 Homepage Boatclub Kings College, Cambridge... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1...

He won the Royal Television Society's Reporter of the Year award in 1977 and 1993, and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1992. While covering the war in Bosnia he was seriously wounded by shrapnel while recording a report. While reporting the war Bell came to believe that the tradition of neutral reporting of armed conflicts did a disservice to the viewers where it was clear that one side was committing atrocities, and wrote a book outlining his belief. He remained an official BBC correspondent although from the mid-1990s he filed relatively few reports. The Royal Television Society is a British-based society for the discussion, analysis and preservation of television in all its forms, past, present and future. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions, in decreasing order of seniority: Knight or Dame Grand... Bosnia and Herzegovina (officially Bosna i Hercegovina, shortened to BiH, also in English variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ... Shrapnel is the collective term for fragments and debris thrown out by an exploding shell or landmine. ...

In 1997, just 24 days before the British General Election he announced that he was leaving the BBC to stand as an Independent candidate in the Tatton constituency in Cheshire, one of the safest Conservative seats in the country where the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, Neil Hamilton, was embroiled in "sleaze" allegations. The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates in Bell's favour, and Bell won with a majority of 11,000 votes, overturning a Conservative majority of over 20,000 and thus becoming the first successful independent parliamentary candidate since the Second World War. The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... Tatton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... This page is about Neil Hamilton, former MP and media personality. ... The Labour Party is the principal centrist/centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a social liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ...

Bell was noted as an extremely effective constituency MP -- while not often speaking in the House of Commons (and when he did, mostly on matters of British policy in the former Yugoslavia and the third world), he very ably represented his constituency. Although urged by large numbers of people in Tatton to stand again in the 2001 General Election, he had promised in the 1997 campaign that he would only represent Tatton for one term. He was however persuaded to stand as an Independent candidate against the Conservative MP Eric Pickles in the Essex constituency of Brentwood and Ongar where there were accusations of Pickles' local Conservative Association being infiltrated by a Pentecostal church. However Bell was not successful in the 2001 election. He then announced his retirement from politics, saying that "winning one and losing one is not a bad record for an amateur". The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... Eric Jack Pickles (born 1952) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the county of Essex in England. ... Brentwood and Ongar is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ...

He now acts as an ambassador for UNICEF and as a critic on the state of journalism today, although he describes himself as "too old" for both journalism and politics. UNICEF logo The United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946. ...

He reversed his previous decision and stood for the European Parliament in the June 2004 elections, but was ultimately unsuccessful as an independent candidate in the UK's eastern region. For the 2005 election he founded the Independents Network to promote Independent candidates (its most prominent candidate being Reg Keys in Sedgefield). He is famous for wearing an off-white suit. The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 and won by the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair. ... Reginald Thomas Keys, better known as Reg Keys (born 1952), is a British politician who stood in the 2005 General Election as an independent candidate for MP of Sedgefield, a constituency held by the current Prime Minister, Tony Blair, since 1983. ... Location within the British Isles Sedgefield is a town in the borough of Sedgefield in County Durham, England. ...