David Bull (television presenter)

David Richard Bull (born 9 May 1969) is an English medical doctor, television presenter, author and former politician. He has worked in television and radio since 1995 on various British channels. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2019 until 2020.

For the Tokyo-based Canadian printmaker, see David Bull (artist).

David Bull
Bull in 2020
Member of the European Parliament
for North West England
In office
2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020
Preceded bySteven Woolfe
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1969-05-09) 9 May 1969
Farnborough, London, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyBrexit (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		Conservative (before 2019)
EducationFramlingham College
Alma materImperial College London
OccupationMedical doctor, television presenter, author, politician
Websitedavidbull.com

Bull studied at St Mary's Hospital Medical School at Imperial College London and worked as a pre-registration and then senior house officer at St Mary's Hospital, Ealing Hospital and Whittington Hospital.

He began a career in broadcasting and appeared on The Jeremy Vine Show, Sugar Dome, Watchdog, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, Newsround, Most Haunted Live!, Richard & Judy, Tomorrow's World, and This Morning. He has been a panellist on The Wright Stuff on Channel 5, and has appeared on The Rachael Ray Show in the US.

In 2006, Bull was nominated as the Conservative Party candidate for Brighton Pavilion in the following general election. He stood down in 2009 to head up a Conservative policy review on sexual health, and was replaced by Charlotte Vere. He later joined the Brexit Party in 2019 and was elected as one of their MEPs for North West England at that year's European Parliament election. He stood down upon the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020.

Early life

David Bull was born in Farnborough, Kent, to Richard and Pauline Bull, and moved to Framlingham, Suffolk, at the age of four with his siblings Anthony and Katie. He attended Fairfield Preparatory School, Ipswich Preparatory School and Framlingham College. He studied at St Mary's Hospital Medical School at Imperial College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine degree, a Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) and a Bachelor of Science honours degree (BSc) in 1993.

Medical career

Bull was a pre-registration house officer at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington and worked for the NHS in the fields of emergency medicine at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, and general medicine and emergency medicine at Whittington Hospital in London.[1] He continued to work as a house officer and senior house officer in general medicine, surgery and accident and emergency.[2]

Bull had his licence to practise restored in March 2020, having ceased being registered to practice in 2009, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic spreading to the United Kingdom.[3]

Media career

In 1995, Bull auditioned to be a guest commentator for The Sky Travel Guide on Sky Travel. Of the auditioning process Bull recalled, "I had to read autocue, I had to interview someone, and I had to handle a live show...you can't beat that sort of experience." Bull was awarded the position on Sky Travel, giving advice for the holiday health feature to those traveling abroad, and beginning his career as a television commentator and presenter.[4]

Bull joined the long-running Newsround as a presenter and producer of segments regarding children's health. Whilst on Newsround, Bull became a regular on popular kids shows on Saturday mornings for CBBC, The Weather Show, Saturday Aardvark, K Club and Bitesize Debate specials. He also hosted, in his role as a doctor, Why Me? and Call the Doctor. Bull then became the sole presenter of Tell Me About It! for New Zealand's C4 TV station. Aimed at young people, the five-instalment programme tackled issues including eating disorders, parental divorces and teen drug use and alcoholism.[5]

In 1998, Bull published his first book, Cool and Celibate?: Sex and No Sex, arguing the benefits of abstinence in teenagers. Bull followed this with What Every Girl Should Know: An A to Z of Health-From Allergies to Zits! in 1999.[6]

Bull joined the BBC's Watchdog in 1999. While on Watchdog, he also appeared on Holiday, Let's Get Healthy, The Really Useful Show, Daily Live and This Morning. He then hosted Watchdog Healthcheck, a weekly, half-hour health programme running from 2001 to 2002.[5]

He also presented the science and technology-centred Tomorrow's World, before presenting Most Haunted on Living TV.[5] Bull appeared on Live TV's highest rated series, Most Haunted Live! from October 2002 to October 2005, hosting three-hour instalments that featured paranormal investigations broadcast live with interactive sections involving the audience. Bull also participated in a ghost hunt at Choughs Hotel where he claimed to have seen an apparition, though he admitted it could have been an optical illusion.[7]

Bull made his American television debut in 2010 as a contributor on the daytime talk show The Rachael Ray Show. In 2012, Bull started hosting for Food Network's series Sugar Dome which is broadcast in the US, Canada, Asia and the UK.[8] He has also co-presented Coast vs Country on Channel 4.[5]

In 2013, Bull appeared in the romantic comedy film Cavemen.[5]

Political career

In December 2006, Bull was selected to represent the Parliamentary seat of Brighton Pavilion at the 2010 general election for the Conservative Party, after being placed on the party's A-List earlier that year. He withdrew his candidacy in June 2009 and was replaced by Charlotte Vere.[9] Denying rumours that he quit after falling out with party leadership, Bull cited the increased workload accompanying his recent appointment to head up a Conservative policy review on sexual health with Shadow Health Minister Anne Milton.[10][11]

In April 2019, Bull was announced as a Brexit Party candidate in the upcoming European Parliament election.[12] He was duly returned as an MEP for the North West England constituency in the election held on 23 May.[13] Later, in August of that year, Bull was adopted as the Brexit Party's prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich then subsequently Sedgefield in the 2019 general election.[14]

Bull was among the UK MEPs who stood down following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020.[15]

Business and charitable work

In 2000, Bull founded a creative branding company, Incredibull.[16] He sold his interest in the business in 2017.

Bull is a supporter of The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, The British Red Cross, Cancer Research and The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and has worked with young people in schools on behalf of the organisation.[17]

Personal life

Bull is openly gay. In 2007 he appeared at the Brighton Pride Parade for which he designed and wore a t-shirt with the slogan "I've come out... I'm a Tory", saying it was acceptable to be gay and a Conservative.[10]

Electoral history

2019 general election
General election 2019: Sedgefield[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Paul Howell 19,609 47.2 8.4
Labour Phil Wilson 15,096 36.3 17.1
Brexit Party David Bull 3,518 8.5 N/A
Liberal Democrats Dawn Welsh 1,955 4.7 2.8
Green John Furness 994 2.4 0.7
Independent Michael Joyce 394 0.9 N/A
Majority 4,513 10.9 N/A
Turnout 41,576 64.6 0.5
Registered electors 64,325
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +12.8

2019 European elections
European Election 2019: North West England[19]
List Candidates Votes % ±
Brexit Party Claire Fox (1)
Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen (4)
David Bull (7)
Gary Harvey, Ajay Jagota, Elizabeth Babade, Sally Bate, John Banks		 541,843
(180,614)		 31.23 New
Labour Theresa Griffin (2)
Julie Ward (6)
Wajid Khan, Erica Lewis, David Brennan, Claire Cozler, Saf Ismail, Yvonne Tennant		 380,193
(190,096)		 21.91 –11.94
Liberal Democrats Chris Davies (3)
Jane Brophy (8)
Helen Foster-Grime, Anna Fryer, Sam Al-Hamdani, Rebecca Forrest, John Studholme, Frederick Van Mierlo		 297,507
(148,753)		 17.15 +11.14
Green Gina Dowding (5)
Wendy Kay Olsen, Jessica Northey, Geraldine Coggins, Rosie Mills, Astrid Johnson, Daniel Jerrome, James Booth		 216,581 12.48 +5.47
Conservative Sajjad Karim, Kevin Beaty, Jane Howard, Arnold Saunders, Wendy Maisey, Thomas Lord, Anthony Pickles, Attika Choudhary 131,002 7.55 –12.51
UKIP Adam Richardson, Jeff Armstrong, Fiona Mills, Nathan Ryding, Michael Felse, Ben Fryer, John Booker, Alexander Craig 62,464 3.60 –23.86
Change UK Andrea Cooper, Dan Price, Arun Banerji, Michael Taylor, Philippa Olive, Victoria Desmond, Andrew Graystone, Elisabeth Knight 47,237 2.72 New
Independent Tommy Robinson 38,908 2.24 New
English Democrat Stephen Morris, Valerie Morris 10,045 0.58 –0.53
UK EU Sophie Larroque 7,125 0.41 New
Independent Mohammad Aslam 2,002 0.12 New
Turnout 1,744,858 33.11 –0.39

References
  1. "davidbull.com". Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  2. About me DavidBull.com
  3. The Medical Register General Medical Council
  4. "BBC Online". Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  5. "David Bull". IMDb.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  6. "BOOKS - David Bull". DavidBull.com. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  7. Carlie Cliffe (27 November 2010). "Jon Dibley & David Bull". Retrieved 13 September 2018 – via YouTube.
  8. "Sugar Dome". Food Network. Scripps Interactive. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  9. "Tory candidate chosen in primary". BBC News. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  10. Andy Chiles (30 June 2009). "Celebrity doctor denies fall-out with Tories". The Argus. Newsquest Media (Southern). Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  11. Jonathan Isaby (26 June 2009). "ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: David Bull steps down as candidate for Brighton Pavilion to head up policy review". Conservative Home. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  12. Westmonster (25 April 2019). "Brexit Party reveal another diverse group of MEP candidates". Westmonster. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  13. "Brexit Party wins three North West seats". BBC News. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  14. "Sedgefield parliamentary constituency". Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  15. Barnes, Peter (5 February 2020). "What happens after Brexit?". BBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  16. "Incredibull has moved". Incredibull. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  17. "The Duke of Edinburgh's Award – The DofE in the UK". Duke of Edinburgh Award. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  18. "Sedgefield parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  19. "Candidate Information". North West Votes. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
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