When Colin Bell finally retired as a valuer around three years ago, it was because “I decided I had paid the chancellor of the exchequer enough money in tax.” And given he was pushing 100 at the time, few could argue with that.
Taxes are far from Bell’s only contribution to the nation, however. As Flt Lt Bell he was a Mosquito bomber pilot during the second world war, flying 50 bombing raids over Germany, an experience he describes modestly as “a bit hairy”.
