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| Shankar Shankaramurthi obituary | Shankar Shankaramurthi obituary |
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| My former colleague Shankar Shankaramurthi, who has died aged 81, was known to few in Britain but was a household name among the legions of people overseas who heard his broadcasts in Tamil. For a quarter of a century, until his retirement in 1991, he produced and presented the BBC's Tamil Service programmes, becoming the voice of the corporation for much of its audience in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries. | My former colleague Shankar Shankaramurthi, who has died aged 81, was known to few in Britain but was a household name among the legions of people overseas who heard his broadcasts in Tamil. For a quarter of a century, until his retirement in 1991, he produced and presented the BBC's Tamil Service programmes, becoming the voice of the corporation for much of its audience in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries. |
| When Shankar joined the BBC in 1966, the Tamil Service was one of the smallest components of the External Services (later renamed the World Service), with only three half-hour magazine programmes a week. But through his drive and creativity, it gradually built up a huge audience, with a mailbag that would have done credit to some much larger language services. | When Shankar joined the BBC in 1966, the Tamil Service was one of the smallest components of the External Services (later renamed the World Service), with only three half-hour magazine programmes a week. But through his drive and creativity, it gradually built up a huge audience, with a mailbag that would have done credit to some much larger language services. |
| Called affectionately by many of his listeners Shankar Anna ("elder brother" Shankar), he was feted as a celebrity when he went on tour to meet them (as I can testify, having accompanied him on one tour to India). During the civil war in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, his programme, which had been given more air time, gained a huge following among the Tamil minority there. | Called affectionately by many of his listeners Shankar Anna ("elder brother" Shankar), he was feted as a celebrity when he went on tour to meet them (as I can testify, having accompanied him on one tour to India). During the civil war in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, his programme, which had been given more air time, gained a huge following among the Tamil minority there. |
| Shankar was not just a compelling communicator – his voice, says a former colleague, was "like a ringing bell" – but also a master of the Tamil language and a man of letters. To the staples of a topical radio magazine programme, he added a drama strand for literary classics, including four Shakespeare plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and The Tempest) which he translated and broadcast in instalments, playing many of the male parts himself. | Shankar was not just a compelling communicator – his voice, says a former colleague, was "like a ringing bell" – but also a master of the Tamil language and a man of letters. To the staples of a topical radio magazine programme, he added a drama strand for literary classics, including four Shakespeare plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and The Tempest) which he translated and broadcast in instalments, playing many of the male parts himself. |
| Snippets from these productions were repeated on BBC Radio 4's Pick of the Week, one of them (the witches' incantation in Macbeth) even graduating to Pick of the Year. Shaw's Pygmalion (with a Tamil film star playing Eliza) and Homer's The Iliad were given similar treatment. | Snippets from these productions were repeated on BBC Radio 4's Pick of the Week, one of them (the witches' incantation in Macbeth) even graduating to Pick of the Year. Shaw's Pygmalion (with a Tamil film star playing Eliza) and Homer's The Iliad were given similar treatment. |
| Born in a village in what is now the Indian state of Tamilnadu, Shankar studied at Madras University before starting his broadcasting career in All India Radio. Popular and gregarious, with little interest in fame, wealth or office politics, he had a strong religious sense, which he expressed in devotional poetry and a Tamil verse rendering of the Sanskrit scriptural text the Bhagavad Gita, completed shortly before his death. | Born in a village in what is now the Indian state of Tamilnadu, Shankar studied at Madras University before starting his broadcasting career in All India Radio. Popular and gregarious, with little interest in fame, wealth or office politics, he had a strong religious sense, which he expressed in devotional poetry and a Tamil verse rendering of the Sanskrit scriptural text the Bhagavad Gita, completed shortly before his death. |
| He is survived by his wife, Saraswati, and daughter, Abheya. | He is survived by his wife, Saraswati, and daughter, Abheya. |
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