New Delhi: Sir William Mark Tully, the veteran journalist, broadcaster and author whose distinctive voice defined the BBC’s coverage of India for decades, passed away on Sunday at the age of 90. Renowned for his incisive reporting on India’s major political moments, Tully was among the most influential foreign correspondents of the late 20th century.
Tully, a former BBC journalist who covered India and South Asia throughout his career and was honoured by both the Indian and the British governments, was ailing for some time and was admitted to a South Delhi hospital, where he passed away.
Born in Tollygunge, Calcutta, on October 24, 1935, into a wealthy British businessman’s family, Tully did his initial schooling in India, including a boarding school in Darjeeling, before returning to the UK at the age of nine. He studied theology at Cambridge and had planned a career in the church, but gave it up midway. He chose journalism instead, joining the BBC in 1964.
Tully moved back to India in 1965 to work as the BBC’s India Correspondent. Soon becoming the service’s chief of bureau in New Delhi, he, in his 22-year-long stint, covered all the major South Asian incidents during his tenure, ranging from the various India-Pakistan conflicts, Operation Blue Star, the subsequent assassination of Indira Gandhi, the anti-Sikh riots, the Bhopal gas tragedy, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, and the Babri Masjid demolition.
Quitting the BBC in July 1994, after an argument with its then Director General, he worked as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in New Delhi. However, his association with the BBC continued, as he presented some programmes for it till 2019.
Tully was the author of various books as well. Beginning with “Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle” (1985), co-authored with his BBC colleague, Satish Jacob, he then co-authored “Raj to Rajiv: 40 Years of Indian Independence” (1988) with Zareer Masani, “No Full Stops in India” (1988), “India in Slow Motion” (2002), along with Gillian Wright, “India’s Unending Journey” (2008), and “India: The Road Ahead” (2011).
“The Heart of India” (1995), covering vignettes of Indian life, and “Upcountry Tales: Once Upon A Time In The Heart Of India” (2017) were his fictional works.
Made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1985, he was knighted in 2002. Conferred the Padma Shri in 1992, he received the Padma Bhushan in 2005.
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–IANS
