Frank Branston (9 May 1939 – 14 August 2009) was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.
He married Marlies, originally from Germany, in 1968, and was the father of two children: Naomi (a lawyer) and Antonia (marketing).
Talking about a visit to a local school arranged by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, he said: Frank Branston stood as an independent in the borough's first direct election for mayor in 2002,[4] backed at the time by the Better Bedford Independent Party, which has since announced that it will field no further candidates.
[5] His platform was based on encouraging investment in the town and on focussing on getting things done rather than on party politics (the borough and the county both had a history of hung councils and unimplemented development plans over several decades).
[8][9][10] In December 2009, a new section of the A428 trunk road bypassing the west of Bedford was named The Branston Way in his memory.