An Audience with Martin Bell - The Nuffield, Southampton

WAR correspondent turned politician Martin Bell is set to enrapture an audience at The Nuffield in Southampton next month.

Bell, pictured, made his name reporting from war-torn Vietnam in the 1960s. Since then he has broadcast from 80 countries and covered 11 conflicts for the BBC.

In filing his reports, Bell was also recording defining moments in modern history, and his uncompromising style of journalism won him the Royal Television Society's Reporter of the Year award in 1977 and again in 1993.

Life as a war correspondent meant taking risks, and during a report from Sarajevo he was hit by shrapnel and badly injured. The experience had a great physical and emotional impact on him, and this ended up being his final assignment for the BBC.

With just 24 days to go before the 1997 general election, he made the surprise announcement that he was leaving the BBC to enter politics.

His anti-corruption and anti-sleaze crusade won him the seemingly safe Conservative seat of Tatton with an incredible 11,000 majority.

After this victory as an independent candidate, he called himself an "accidental MP", but did go on to campaign in the 2001 election. This time he did not win a seat, nor did he triumph in 2004 when he campaigned for a seat at the European Parliament. He is now an ambassador for UNICEF.

Although today he describes himself as "too old" for both journalism and politics, he certainly is not too old to provide an audience with a fascinating insight into his life.

To find out more about Martin Bell, he will be at The Nuffield on Tuesday, February 22.

Tickets cost from £14. To book, call the box office on 023 8067 1771.