Adrian Bell

Adrian Bell (1901–1980) was an English journalist-farmer.

Life

The son of a newspaper editor, he was born in London and educated at Uppingham School in Rutland. At the age of 19 he went off to the countryside in Hundon, Suffolk to learn about farming. He then farmed in various locations for the next sixty years, including the rebuilding of a near-derelict 89 acre smallholding at Redisham, near Beccles.

Out of his early experiences came the book "Corduroy", published in 1930. Bell's friend, the author and poet Edmund Blunden, advised him and helped secure his first publishing deal. "Corduroy" was an immediate best-seller and was followed by two more books on the countryside, "Silver Ley" in 1931 and "The Cherry Tree" in 1932, the three books forming a farm trilogy. The popularity of literary back-to-the-land writing in England in the 1930s can be put in the context of, for example, Vita Sackville-West's long narrative poem "The Land". The Penguin Books paperback edition of "Corduroy" came out in 1940 and was much prized by soldiers serving during the Second World War.

Bell wrote the "Countryman’s Notebook" column in the "Eastern Daily Press" from 1950, and produced over twenty other books on the countryside, including "Apple Acre" (1942), "Sunrise to Sunset" (1944), "The Budding Morrow" (1946), "The Flower and the Wheel" (1949), "Music in the Morning", (1954), "A Suffolk Harvest" (1956), the autobiographical "My Own Master" (1961) and "The Green Bond" (1976).

Bell was also the first compiler of "The Times"' crossword, which first appeared in the weekly edition on 2 January 1930, and is credited as helping to establish its distinctive cryptic clue style. He set around 5,000 puzzles between 1930 and 1978.

Family

His son, Martin Bell, is a well-known former BBC war reporter, and was an independent Member of Parliament between 1997 and 2001. "Things that Endure", a half-hour BBC radio documentary on Adrian Bell presented by his son, was broadcast on September 2 2005 on Radio 4. His daughter, Anthea Bell is a famous translator best known for her translations of the Asterix comics.

References

* Ann Lynda Gander. "Adrian Bell, Voice of the Countryside". (Holm Oak Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-9533406-1-9)

External links

* [http://www.sndc.demon.co.uk/absubs.htm Adrian Bell Society]
* [http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/collectors/extract.html Adrian Bell 1901-1980 by Martin Bell]
* [http://www.eastsuffolklinewalks.co.uk/adrianbellcountry/ A walk in Adrian Bell country]