I've written it before: he is the Lennon to ED's McCartney. And what remnants of fun are still in ED from the original games? those by Bell.
Interesting analogy. From various interviews I've read in the past, Bell seemed to be the deep thinker and attention to detail guy out of the two. Braben the enthusiastic media-friendly, and business-oriented one. It's a shame they fell out. Would have loved to have seen some other Braben & Bell titles (other than space games) over the years.