He was sentenced to death in absentia for allegedly conspiring with his followers in
Algeria to murder Kaid Ahmed, head of the party. He was assassinated in Frankfurt,
Germany, in 1970.
Bell, Francis Henry Dillon (1851–1936)
New Zealand Reform Party centre-right politician, prime minister in 1925.
Bell was attorney general 1918–26 and minister for external affairs 1923–26, being
best known in the international sphere as New Zealand delegate to League of
Nations conferences and to the Imperial Conference in 1928. He was a caretaker
prime minister for 16 days in 1925 – the shortest tenure of the 20th century –
following the death in office of William Ferguson Massey. Bell was succeeded as
prime minister by Joseph Coates, of the Reform Party.
Belloc, (Joseph) Hilaire (René Pierre) (1870–1953)
French-born British writer. He wrote nonsense verse for children, including The Bad
Child's Book of Beasts (1896) and Cautionary Tales for Children (1907). Belloc also
wrote historical, biographical, travel, and religious books (he was a devout Catholic).
With G K Chesterton, he advocated a return to the late medieval guild system of
commercial association in place of capitalism or socialism.
Belloc was born in St-Cloud on the outskirts of Paris, and educated at Oxford
University. He became a British subject in 1902. In 1906 he was elected Liberal
member of Parliament for South Salford, but he became disillusioned with English
politics and retired from Parliament in 1910.
He wrote some 16 novels, nearly all of which were illustrated by G K Chesterton. As
an essayist he has an engaging style, and the easy variety of his choice of subject is
shown in 'On Nothing' (1908), 'On Everything' (1909), 'On Something' (1911), and
'This and That and the Other' (1913).
His historical and biographical works were written from the point of view of a Catholic
controversialist, and he had a European perspective on English history. His main
historical works include History of England, 1688–1910 (1914), The Last Days of the
French Monarchy (1916), Europe and the Faith (1920), and A Shorter History of
England (1934).
Belloc also wrote a number of books that sprang from his enthusiasm for travel and
his love of places. The Path to Rome (1902) is a walker's classic, describing a
journey by road from the north of France through Switzerland to Rome. Among his
writings on contemporary politics are The Party System (1911), with Cecil Chesterton
(1879–1918), and The Servile State (1912), opposing the growing size and influence
of the British state in the wake of 'new liberalism'.
His first financial success was in the field of children's books with The Bad Child's
Book of Beasts (1896), followed by More Beasts for Worse Children (1897),