This Is Your Life: Martin Bell

Martin BELL (1938-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Martin Bell, television journalist, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a meeting at the BBC Television Newsroom.

Martin, who was born in Redisham, Suffolk, began his journalism career as a reporter with the BBC in Norwich in 1962 after achieving a first-class honours degree in English at King's College, Cambridge. After moving to the BBC's London newsroom in 1967, he began a distinguished career as a foreign affairs correspondent with his first assignment in Ghana.

Over the next thirty years, Martin reported from the front line of virtually every major conflict, including Vietnam, the Middle East, Nigeria, Angola and Northern Ireland. While covering the war in Bosnia in 1992, he was seriously wounded by shrapnel while reporting in Sarajevo. His roles at the BBC included diplomatic correspondent, chief Washington correspondent for ten years and Berlin correspondent.

"Michael, you're kidding! This is scary - this is ridiculous! This is the scariest thing that ever happened to me, Michael! But you were one of us!"

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