Premil Ratnayake

Ratnayake Mudianselage – Premil Ratnayake, (Sinhala:ප්‍රෙමිල් රත්නායක​; 3 April 1933 – 10 April 2013), was a Sri Lanka journalist, writer, diplomat, and former First Secretary (Press and Information). Ratnayake was a prominent journalist, having worked at the Lake House, working for the The Daily News[2] and for Lalith Athulathmudali, at the Ministry of Trade and Shipping. He was later assigned to Bonn, Germany, as First Secretary, for Press and Information in 1984. He worked at The Island as well. In his retirement, he returned to The Daily News for a period.[3][4][5]

Premil Ratnayake
ප්‍රෙමිල් රත්නායක
Born
Ratnayake Mudianselage Premil Ratnayake

(1933-04-03)3 April 1933
Hatton, Ceylon
Died10 April 2013(2013-04-10) (aged 80)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
Alma materAnanda College
Occupation
Spouse(s)Jasmine Ratnayake
Children
  • Nayomini Ratnayake Weerasooriya
  • Sirimali
  • Manohari

Early life

Ratnayake was born on 3 April 1933, in Hatton, Ceylon. He was the fourth son of Mudianselage Marshal Ratnayake and Rossyln Paranavitanage. He had four siblings; Willy, Wimala, Edwin (former Commissioner of Labour[3]) and Lal, former DIG.[6] Ratnayake was an exceptionally talented student, athlete, boxer and cadet at Ananda College.[3]

Premil as a young school boy, next to his trophies.

Career

Journalism and writing

Initially he started work at the Bank of Ceylon[5], he later left to pursue his passion, which was writing.[3] He joined Lake House, as a journalist for the Ceylon Daily News[7][8][9]. Premil worked along side the likes of Mervyn de Silva[8][8], who was the editor of the Lake House, Willie de Alwis,[2][10] D. B. Dhanapala[3][5] and Christie Seneviratne.[11] Ratnayake was a skilled writer and could speak Sinhalese, Tamil and Hindi.[3][2][12]

While working at Lake House

In March 1970, Premil covered the historic event of the arrival of the Apollo 12 mission crew, for the Ceylon Daily News,[13] part of a 20-nation goodwill tour, to celebrate the successful voyage to and back from the moon. Apollo 12 was the second spaceflight to land men on the moon, consisting of Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Alan L. Bean, visited Ceylon. The crew was welcomed by the then Minister of State, J. R. Jayewardene, US Ambassador Andrew Corry,[14] and the Mayor of Colombo, Vincent Perera.[13]

First Secretary and the Ministry of Trade and Shipping

Later, on invitation from Lalith Athulathmudali, Ratnayake joined the Ministry of Trade and Shipping, to handle publicity for the Ministry.[1][3] The government then sent him to Bonn, Germany, as First Secretary, for Press and Information in 1984.[3]

Defending Sri Lanka's reputation back when the Tamil Diaspora was active in Europe – 1984

Post Retirement

After retiring, Ratnayake returned to Lake House, to write for The Daily News briefly.[8] Since he was a writer and journalist belonging to the old world order, he didn't fancy writing on computers, and managed to get himself the only typewriter left at the Lake House[3][4][2] as he simply says "To hell with the modernity, the scuttling mouse. All this sophisticated hi-fi gadgetry nauseates me and threatens to kill my journalistic creativity. Give me the typewriter any day – I am like an orphan child re-united with his mother. To be true I detest the computer. Only the typewriter can instil in me the desire to write. Its touch the loving caress, inspires me. Maybe I am naive and old-fashioned but I am me and I am in love with the old mistress."[2]

Premil doing what he always likes to do, on his typewriter.(4 December 2009).

Death

Ratnayake died on 3 April 2013, at the age of 80.[4][3][5]

Bibliography

Ratnayake wrote several books in his lifetime, four of which were published. One notable example was an autobiography of Lalith Athulathmudali.

Year Book Publisher
1986 Charisma : Lalith Athulathmudali, a fiftieth year volume Premil Ratnayake[15]
1996 War and Warriors S. Godage & Bros[16]
1997 Apostle of peace : Gandhi Peace Prize winner, Sri Lankan Sarvodaya leader Ariyaratne : a narrative S. Godage & Bros[17]
1997 The third person note : (a novel) Sarvodaya Vishva Lekha Publicatons[18]
Launch of his book; War and Warriors
gollark: Imagine having shoulders.
gollark: What a nice crab.
gollark: You can fit 100TB into the space of a 3.5" HDD.
gollark: No. Flash chips are smaller than equivalent HDDs.
gollark: Oh, commas.

References
  1. "Features | Sundayobserver.lk – Sri Lanka". archives.sundayobserver.lk.
  2. "Features | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers". archives.dailynews.lk.
  3. "The Island". www.island.lk.
  4. "The Island". www.island.lk.
  5. http://archives.dailynews.lk/2013/04/11/news60.asp
  6. "::: The Sunday Times : Situation Report".
  7. "Features | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers". archives.dailynews.lk.
  8. "Mervyn de Silva: the feared outsider". archives.sundayobserver.lk.
  9. "Online edition of Sunday Observer – Features". archives.sundayobserver.lk.
  10. "|| Daily News Online Edition – Sri lanka :: Print Page". archives.dailynews.lk.
  11. "Features | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers". archives.dailynews.lk.
  12. "[APPRECIATIONS – (19-11-2018)]".
  14. "Andrew Vincent Corry – People – Department History – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov.
  15. Premil Ratnayake (1986). "Charisma: Lalith Athulathmudali, a fiftieth year volume". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. Premil Ratnayake (1996). "War and warriors". ISBN 9789552019685. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. Premil Ratnayake (1997). "Apostle of peace : Gandhi Peace Prize winner, Sri Lankan Sarvodaya leader Ariyaratne : a narrative". ISBN 9789552024559. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. Premil Ratnayake (1997). "The third person note : [a novel]". ISBN 9789555990868. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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