B'day Spl: Mark Tully, veteran BBC journalist, turns 79

New Delhi: October 24 is the birthday of veteran journalist and Padma Bhushan awardee Mark Tully. He was born on October 24, 1935 at Regent Park in the Tollygunj area in undivided 24-Parganas district in West Bengal.He was BBC's New Delhi bureau chief for 22 years since 1965. Tully covered major events, including the Indo-Pakistan conflicts, Bhopal gas tragedy, Operation Blue Star, assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi killing and demolition of the Babri Masjid. During his 22 years stint, Tully became familiar to viewers and listeners throughout the world.Tully's father was a wealthy accountant at the British Gillander Corporation in Kolkata. He was brought up by a strict European nanny.He spent the first decade of his childhood in India. He was sent to a ‘British boarding school' in Darjeeling before going to England for further schooling from the age of nine.Tully was educated at Twyford School, Marlborough College and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He studied Theology here.After Cambridge, he wanted to become a priest but he abandoned the work just after two terms at Lincoln Theological College saying he doubts about ‘trusting his sexuality to behave as a priest'.He joined the BBC in 1964 and moved back to India in 1965 as the India's Correspondent. Tully resigned from the BBC in July 1994 after an argument with the then Director General John Birt.It was in 1985 when Tully was made an Officer of The Order of the British Empire.He was awarded the Padma Shree in 1992 and Padma Bhushan in 2005. His love for India is encapsulated in his books.His books have always portrayed India in the positive light.In 1994, Tully presented an episode of BBCs Great Railway Journeys ‘Karachi to The Khyber Pass' traveling by train across Pakistan. Since then, he has been working as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in New Delhi.Tully, at present, is the regular presenter of the weekly BBC Radio 4 weekly programme ‘Something Understood'.BooksTully's first book on ‘India Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle' (1985) was co-authored with his colleague in BBC Delhi, Satish Jacob.His next book ‘Raj to Rajiv: 40 Years of Indian Independence' was co-authored with Zareer Masani and was based on a BBC radio series of the same name. The book was, in the US, was published under the title ‘India: Forty Years of Independence'.In 1988, ‘No Full Stops in India', a collection of journalistic essays, was published in the US.‘The Heart of India', Tully's only work of fiction, was published in 1995.Tully wrote ‘India's Unending Journey' in 2008 and ‘India: The Road Ahead' in 2011 - published in India under the title ‘Non-Stop India'.He authored ‘An Investigation into The Lives of Jesus' in 1996 to accompany the BBC series of the same name, and Mother in 1992 on Mother Teresa.In November last year, Tully received his birth certificate from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, 78 years after his birth. He needed it to apply for the Overseas Citizen of India status.