Martin is currently President of the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors’ Association and the Suffolk Concert Band.
He was Diplomatic Correspondent from 1977-1978 and Chief Washington Correspondent from 1978-1989. From 1990 to 1994 he the Berlin Correspondent. His assignments have included 90 countries and 11 wars from Biafra to Bosnia. He was Wounded by mortar fire in Sarajevo in 1992.
He Left the BBC in 1997 to stand as an Independent against the sitting MP for Tatton, against Neil Hamilton. Won with an 11,000 vote majority and was the first elected Independent since 1951. Martin was Described in the press as “A fully paid up member of the awkward squad”. He polled 93,000 votes in June 2004 as an Independent candidate for the European Parliament Eastern Region. He was Appointed UNICEF Ambassador for Humanitarian Emergencies in 2001. Was the Winner of the UNICEF UK 60th anniversary award in 2006. His assignments for UNICEF have included Burundi, Kosovo, Tajikistan, Malawi, Iraq, Bosnia, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Afghanistan.
Major awards have included
- OBE in 1993
- The Royal Television Society Reporter of the Year (1977 and 1993)
An Honorary doctorate, University of Derby
- Honorary degrees from the University of East Anglia
- The Robert Gordon University Aberdeen and the University of Kingston
- Sandford St Martin prize for religious broadcasting, 2007.
