Graham Bell (born 4 January 1966) is a former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

skier who is also a TV presenter, adventurer and journalist. He has presented several

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

shows with Ed Leigh including ''High Altitude'' in 2009 and ''

Ski Sunday ''Ski Sunday'' is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot. It began in 1978, and is currently presented by Ed Leigh ...

'' more recently. Highlights included Graham tackling the Arctic Circle Race; a

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

race in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

; and surviving a night in a snow-hole without food, water or a sleeping bag. He set a personal best top speed on skis of . In January 2017 Bell set a World Record for towed speed skiing 189.07kmh behind a Jaguar F-Pace in Sweden.

Biography

Bell was born on the Akrotiri

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in 1966, the son of pilot Rod Bell and teacher Jean Bell. Graham's love of skiing started at age 5 when his father was posted to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He learned to ski in the

Cairngorm Mountains The Cairngorms ( gd, Am Monadh Ruadh) are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 ...

and Hillend dry slope. By the time the family moved to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(where his father was posted), Graham and his brother

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

were both racing full-time on the World Cup circuit.

Career

Athletic career

Graham Bell and his brother

competed for Britain throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Graham took a silver medal at the World Junior Ski Championships in 1984 and represented Great Britain at five Winter Olympics in Sarajevo 1984,

Calgary 1988 ) , nations = 57 , athletes = 1,423 (1,122 men, 301 women) , events = 46 in 6 sports (10 disciplines) , opening = February 13, 1988 , closing = February 28, 1988 , opened_by = Governor General Jeanne Sauvé , cauldron ...

Albertville 1992 ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Lillehammer 1994 The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

and

Nagano 1998 The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

. Bell achieved 12th place in the infamous

Hahnenkamm Hahnenkamm (means "comb") may refer to *Hahnenkamm (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft), a federation of municipalities in Bavaria, Germany * Hahnenkamm, Greenland, a mountain in the Stauning Alps, Greenland *Hahnenkamm, Kitzbühel The Hahnenkamm is a mo ...

Race in

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Television career

After retiring as a professional ski racer in 1998, Graham started his television career at

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

commentating live on the World Cup Ski Circuit for two years, before moving over to an in-vision role on ''Ski Sunday''. Graham was part of the ''Ski Sunday ''team which won a

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

award in 2002. He has presented and commentated on the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

. Away from the mountains, Graham is the presenter of the BBC's World Championship Series

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

coverage. He has worked on the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, and in 2009 competed in the Fastnet Race with Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss, filming, interviewing and presenting as well as working as an active crew member. Other TV credits include: ''

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geor ...

'', ''

Through the Keyhole ''Through the Keyhole'' is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter goes around celebrities' houses and ...

'', ''

Celebrity Eggheads ''Eggheads'' is a British quiz show produced by 12 Yard. It was first broadcast in November 2003 chaired by Dermot Murnaghan. In 2008, Jeremy Vine became joint chair, and subsequently sole chair. The show has inspired three spinoff series: ''Ar ...

'', ''Market Kitchen'', '' Ready Steady Cook'' and travel shows including ''Wish You Here''. Since retiring from competition Graham has continued to test his competitive instinct. In 2003 he competed in the return of BBC1's ''

Superstars A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity. Superstar or superstars may also refer to: People * Warhol superstars, the associates of Andy Warhol * WWE Superstar, a branding term referring to a WWE wrestler * Superstar Billy Graham (born 1943) ...

'' against some of the country's top sportsmen. He achieved fourth place in the final, the best placed non-current athlete. Graham has competed in numerous triathlon competitions and 24-hour

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

events. He regularly rides the grueling Etape du Tour cycle race. In 2009 Bell took part in the BBC2 series ''High Altitude'', where participants took part in death-defying stunts such as 'summit hopping' and glacier climbing. For a time, Graham was International Performance Director for The Ski & Snowboard Federation. He is a patron of The British Ski Academy. In 2021, Bell took part in the thirteenth series of ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

'' partnering

Karina Manta Karina Manta (born March 20, 1996) is an American former competitive ice dancer. Early life Manta was born on March 20, 1996 in Olympia, Washington. She began figure skating in 2002. Career Manta previously competed in ice dance with Jonatha ...

. They were the second couple to be eliminated.

Charity work

Graham is a patron of several UK charities including the DisabilitySnowsportUK, Snow Camp.

Personal life

Bell is married and, with his wife Sarah, has two children, Louis and Lottie, who are also keen skiers. In 2018, Graham Bell attended the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) alpine ski championships and completed the Super-G as a forerunner. He beat ‘Robbo’ by 11 seconds, whilst carrying no poles, holding a camera, and commentating. In March 2018, immediately after the RLC Championships, Graham Bell hosted a heliskiing week in Alagna, Italy.

Notes and references

External links

Graham Bell page
at BBC Sport Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Graham 1966 births British male alpine skiers Scottish male alpine skiers British television presenters People of Greek Cypriot descent Living people Sportspeople from Edinburgh Sportspeople from Yorkshire BBC sports presenters and reporters Akrotiri and Dhekelia people Olympic alpine skiers for Great Britain Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics