A celebrated journalist who was an irksome thorn in the side of whichever paranoid councillors were in power in Birmingham for more than three decades has passed away.
David Bell, the Birmingham Mail’s former municipal editor, had been admitted to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, but took a turn for the worse and passed away peacefully in his sleep this week, aged 77.
Often known simply as Belly, or in more humorous moments as Ding-Dong Bell, he was a blunt Northerner with a twinkle in his eye who originally hailed from Hartlepool.
He started on the Mail in 1976, and during his 31 years there became a legend of regional journalism, his voluminous local government knowledge and remarkable list of contacts holding councillors of all parties to account.
In the latter years of his career, a constant stream of contacts queued to feed him tip-offs over Guinness at the Old Joint Stock, and most drinks were shamelessly reclaimed from the paper on his expenses.
Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, and who was once a Birmingham City Councillor, today reflected on what he said was the “sad news” of Belly’s death.
He said: “Love him or hate him – and I liked him a lot – you couldn’t ignore David Bell.
“He was a strong character and sadly there will be never again be a more challenging and righteous journalist keeping their eyes on local government in this city.
“He was a man with high standards and moral, and he was relentless against those who didn’t come up to his standards.
“Some may claim his love for a drink was not always acceptable, but he was a man of his time and a veritable institution.
“Belly was a fearsome journalist who held to account and largely kept in check the best part of a major city for decades.”
Tributes also came from journalist Steve Dyson, who first worked with Belly as a reporter at the Mail in 1991 and later became his news editor and finally his editor at the paper.
Mr Dyson, whose company Dyson Media now handles Westside BID’s communications, said: “I was proud to have worked with Belly and to have experienced his glorious front-page splashes on the shenanigans of local government.
“These ranged from inter-party affairs to shocking expense scandals, and from appalling wastes of public money to drunken fist-fights.
“There are too many exclusives to list, but a famous one revealed how Birmingham City Council painted the grass green between the airport and the city centre to impress international leaders ahead of the G8 summit in 1998.
“When I was his news editor, the pub was the only place I could find him for his annual appraisal. Newspaper managers were irrelevant unless they bought him a pint and met a few contacts!
“Belly’s world was meeting people, drinking with and befriending them, always extracting their secrets. RIP Ding-Dong.”
