John Cole (journalist)

Disambiguation: John Cole was also a Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1810–1814.

John Cole (born November 23 1927 in Belfast) is a British journalist and broadcaster.

He worked as a journalist on the Belfast Telegraph, The Guardian and The Observer, and in 1981 became political editor for the BBC. His strong Northern Irish accent and trademark overcoat and spectacles made him an instantly recognisable figure. His on-screen political commentaries were regularly parodied in Private Eye as always beginning with the words "Hondootedly Mossis Thotcher..." but in reality Cole was an astute observer of the political scene, for instance as when he correctly forecast Margaret Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister in 1990.

Since his retirement in 1992 he has written a number of novels.

He was sometimes parodied on The Mary Whitehouse Experience by Hugh Dennis.