Colin J. Bell (1 April 1938 – 9 October 2021) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and author. Bell was educated at

St Paul's School, London (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent school Public school , religion = Church of England , president = , h ...

, and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, where he graduated in 1959 with a first-class degree in the Historical Tripos. He went on to become a journalist with various newspapers, including ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'', and was once editor of ''

The Scots Independent ''The Scots Independent'' is a monthly Scottish political newspaper that is in favour of Scottish independence. It was formed in 1926 with William Gillies as editor, by the Scots National League (SNL) and switched its allegiance to the Nation ...

''. He made the transition to broadcasting with

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

in 1984. Bell served the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...

as Executive Vice-Chairman, 1978-1984 and Campaign Director, Euro elections 1984. In 1979 he stood as SNP Parliamentary Candidate for West Edinburgh and also European Parliamentary Candidate for North East Scotland. In June 1996, he was the 13th Scot to be presented with the Oliver Brown Award. He later left the SNP to join the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...

. Bell wrote ''Murder Trail: Death for a Living''. He served as Rector of Aberdeen University from 1991 to 1993. Bell died on 9 October 2021, at the age of 83.

Footnotes

1938 births 2021 deaths Scottish newspaper editors Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Scottish National Party politicians Scottish Socialist Party politicians Scottish radio presenters Scottish National Party parliamentary candidates {{UK-journalist-stub