| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Antony Bell |
| Born | 20 June 1958 England  United Kingdom |
| Died | July 2023 Bebington, Wirral, UK |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Amateur teams | |
| - | Birkenhead Victoria CC |
| - | Birkenhead North End CC |
| - | Prescot Eagle |
| - | Ribble Valley |
| - | Port Sunlight Wheelers Club |
| - | Kirkby CC |
| - | Team Haverill |
| - | New Brighton CC |
| Professional teams | |
| 1980 | Midlet - Moser |
| 1981 | Ian May |
Tony Bell (born 20 June 1958) [1] is a freelance writer and journalist, known for his What's he on column in Cycling Weekly, [2] where he was a columnist between 1994 and 2006. [3] His popularity gained as a CW columnist [4] [5] led to engagements as an after-dinner speaker at cycling events. [6] [7]
Bell is also a serious reporter with a degree in politics who has reported on race riots, gangland contracts, drugs wars and environmental and social issues in his native Merseyside for The Independent and The Observer. [2] Following a road accident in which several members of Rhyl cycling club were killed, Bell criticized the attitudes of those such as Jeremy Clarkson, whose column in The Sun he considered anti-cyclist, and what he saw as the cynical attitude of motorists. He called for a single organisation to represent cyclists in the UK to avoid such tragedies recurring. [8]
Bell was also professional cyclist. [4] He once held the mountains and points jerseys in the prestigious Mi-Août Bretonne. [2] He is the brother of former National Amateur and Professional Road Race Champion Mark Bell, who died in 2009.
Ill-health including an ongoing heart condition exacerbated by alcohol addiction led to Bell's death in July 2023, shortly after his 65th birthday.[ citation needed ]