Mark Tully: Award-winning journalist Mark Tully has breathed his last at Delhi’s Max Hospital in Saket. BBC’s Chief of Bureau for more than two decades, Tully was knighted in 2002 and received the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2005 from the Indian government.
The news of veteran British-Indian broadcaster and journalist’s demise happened after a prolonged illness. One of the most respected foreign journalists to have chronicled the modern history of India, Mark Tully was born on 24 October 1935 in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
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Mark Tully-The Man, The Orator, The Journalist That India Loved
Mark was the BBC’s Chief of Bureau (New Delhi) for more than two decades. His deeply empathetic and fair reporting along with distinctive English accent made him a household name in India.
Tully was BBC’s voice in India on many events, including but not limited to the Indo-Pak wars and the Emergency to Operation Blue Star and the birth of Bangladesh. He received immense credibility for his on-the-ground, balanced reporting.
Love For India
Tully retired from the BBC in 1994 and decided to stay in India. He continued to report and comment on Indian affairs. He hosted BBC Radio 4’s long-running spiritual program “Something Understood” until 2019.
In 1985, Mark Tully was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and later knighted in the 2002 New Year Honours when he received the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). In India, he received the Padma Shri (1992) and later the Padma Bhushan (2005), making him one of the rare foreign journalists to receive two of India’s top civilian awards.
In 1985, Tully won a BAFTA for lifetime achievement and was conferred the RedInk Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mumbai Press Club. Tully was the author of many successful books such as No Full Stops in India (1991), India’s Unending Journey (2000), Line of Control (2003) and India’s Unending Journey: A Candid Look at the State of Modern India (2011).
