Frank Branston
| Frank Branston | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Bedford | |
|
In office 6 October 2002 – 14 August 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | New Office |
| Succeeded by | Dave Hodgson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 May 1939 Retford, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Died | 14 August 2009 (aged 70) |
| Political party | Independent |
| Website | www.bedford.gov.uk |
Frank Branston (9 May 1939 – 14 August 2009) was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.
Frank Branston was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire, brought up in Chelsea, west London, and educated at Sloane Grammar School, Chelsea, leaving in 1955 aged 16. He married Marlies, originally from Germany, in 1968, and was the father of two children: Naomi (a lawyer) and Antonia (marketing).
Prior to entering politics he was a journalist, although he was for a while a member of the Labour Party in the 1970s. In 1974 he was the first journalist on a weekly newspaper to be named as the National Press Awards' Provincial Journalist of the Year. After launching his own newspaper, Bedfordshire on Sunday, in 1977, he also received a number of other awards.
Branston was the owner of five local newspapers: Bedfordshire on Sunday, Luton on Sunday, Hertfordshire on Sunday, Leighton Buzzard on Sunday and the Milton Keynes News, with a total distribution approaching 400,000. He and his wife sold their 88% stake in the newspapers in 2005. He was also the author of two novels, "Sergeant Ritchie's Conscience" (1978) and "An Up and Coming Man" (1977).
Branston described himself as a "non-practising" Jew, and was the town's second Jewish mayor—coincidentally following on from the first Jewish mayor of the town. Talking about a visit to a local school arranged by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, he said:
Frank Branston stood as an independent in the borough's first direct election for mayor in 2002, backed at the time by the Better Bedford Independent Party, which has since announced that it will field no further candidates. His platform was based on encouraging investment in the town and on focussing on getting things done rather than on party politics (the borough and the county both had a history of hung councils and unimplemented development plans over several decades).
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