Bob Russell

Bob Russell comes from a family which has lived in the Colchester area for at least eight generations. He is married to Audrey; they have twin sons aged 34 and a daughter of 21. His first daughter died, aged seven, in 1978 following an accident. He is also a proud grandfather to Joseph (born July 2001).

Bob is one of only two Liberal Democrat MPs in the East of England. He is the first former Mayor of Colchester to subsequently be elected to serve the town as MP. A further claim to fame - he could be the fastest typing MP (75 wpm)!

Bob is a journalist by profession. For the 11 years prior to his election he was Publicity Information Officer for the University of Essex at Colchester. He began his career as a journalist in 1963 as a Reporter on the Essex County Standard and the weekly Colchester Gazette. He became News Editor of the Braintree and Witham Times in 1966 and in March 1968 (aged 21) became the country's youngest Editor when he took over the Maldon and Burnham Standard. He subsequently spent four years in London as a Sub-Editor on the former Evening News and later the Evening Standard. He then spent 13 years as a Press Officer for Post Office Telecommunications/British Telecom at the regional offices in Colchester, before joining the University of Essex in January 1986.

He stood for Parliament on two previous occasions - in 1979 he was the Labour candidate for the former Colchester Consituency (which in those days included more than 30 villages as well as the town), and in October 1974 he stood just over the border in Suffolk in the former Sudbury and Woodbridge Consituency. He was second to the Tories on both occasions.

He is a season ticket holder for Colchester United Football Club (the U's) whom he has supported for 46 years.

He is the Lib-Dem Sports Spokesperson and serves on the Home Affairs Select Committee.

IN BRIEF:

Date of Birth: 31.03.46

Occupation: MP

Education: Myland Primary School, St Helena Secondary Modern School for Boys, North East Essex Technical College (all in Colchester)

Council Experience: Councillor on Colchester Borough Council from 1971 to 2002, Mayor of Colchester 1986-87, Leader of the Council 1987-91

Marital status/children: Married, three children, 1 grandchild

Interests: Season ticket holder for Colchester United Football Club

General: Awarded the Queen's Scout Badge and the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award