Journalist and former MP Martin Bell will give a guest lecture at Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Ormskirk, on Thursday.

Martin has been invited to the institution by the Department of Media and Communication.

His talk Journalism - more than just a job will be delivered to an audience of journalism and media degree students, pupils from local schools and heads of school media departments.

Prior to the talk the school pupils will be given the opportunity to use Edge Hill's state-of-the art media facilities, which include a newsroom stocked with industry standard equipment, in a series of workshops.

Martin Bell worked as a reporter for BBC News from 1962 to 1997, mostly overseas.

He was assigned to 80 countries and 11 wars, beginning in Vietnam and ending in Bosnia, where he was wounded. He was twice named Reporter of the Year by the Royal Television Society.In 1997 he left the BBC to stand as an Independent candidate in the Tatton constituency in the General Election, against Neil Hamilton.

He won by more than 11,000 votes and became the only Independent MP in the House of Commons.

He served on the Standards and Privileges Committee and was active in a number of causes, including the campaign to win compensation for the former prisoners of war of the Japanese.

In 2001 he was appointed by UNICEF UK as a Special Representative for Humanitarian Emergencies and in that capacity has visited UNICEF projects and Afghan refugees on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikstan.

Tony Turjansky, course leader for journalism at Edge Hill, said: "Martin Bell is one of the most recognised and respected members of the journalism profession, and in his more recent career as a politician he also distinguished himself as a man of integrity and independence.

"His insights into what makes an effective journalist in the digital age are definitely worth hearing, and we are delighted that he is taking time out of his busy schedule to give Edge Hill journalism and media students the benefit of his wide experience."

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