# John Cole

John Morrison Cole (23 November 1927 – 7 November 2013) was a Northern Irish journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work with the BBC. Cole served as deputy editor of The Guardian and The Observer and, from 1981 to 1992, was the BBC's political editor. Donald Macintyre, in an obituary in The Independent, described him as "the most recognisable and respected broadcast political journalist since World War II." == Early life == Cole was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1927 to George Cole, an electrical engineer, and his wife Alice. The family were Ulster Protestants, and Cole identified himself as British.