MadelaineStanfie: further adjust details for consistency also and cleaned formatting

2026-03-10T10:38:58Z

further adjust details for consistency also and cleaned formatting

->Ramesh lalwani: I added image to this article #WPWP

2021-08-24T18:30:07Z

I added image to this article #WPWP

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{{Short description|Indian born British journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Mark Tully 1.jpg
| honorific_prefix = [[Sir]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire|KBE]]
| name = Mark Tully
| birth_name = William Mark Tully
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1935|10|24|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Tollygunge]], Kolkata (formerly named [[Calcutta]]), [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| occupation = Journalist, writer
| education = [[Marlborough College]]<br />[[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
| signature = MarkTully Autograph.jpg
}}

'''Sir William Mark Tully''', [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire|KBE]] (born 24 October 1935)<ref>{{cite news |title=Birthdays |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |pages=47 |publisher=Guardian News & Media |date=29 October 2014 }}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1735083.stm |title=Mark Tully: The voice of India |date=31 December 2001 |publisher=BBC |access-date=25 November 2009 |location=London}}</ref> is the former Bureau Chief of [[BBC]], [[New Delhi]], a position he held for 20 years.<ref name="th">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2000/02/20/stories/1320001c.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629052632/http://www.hindu.com/2000/02/20/stories/1320001c.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2011 |title=Media reportage: Interview with Mark Tully |date=20 February 2000 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref> He worked with the BBC for a total of 30 years before resigning in July 1994.<ref name="ti">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/tully-quits-bbc-1412865.html |title=Tully quits BBC |last=Victor |first=Peter |date=10 July 1994 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=25 November 2009 |location=London}}</ref> The recipient of several awards, Tully has authored nine books. He is a member of the [[Oriental Club]].

==Personal life==
Tully was born in [[Tollygunge]] in India <ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23678823 |title=Why Mark Tully needs a Calcutta birth certificate at 78 |date=20 August 2013 |access-date=20 August 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref> His father was a British businessman who was a partner in one of the leading managing agencies of the [[British Raj]]. He spent the first decade of his childhood in India, although without being allowed to socialise with Indian people; at the age of four, he was sent to a "British boarding school" in [[Darjeeling]],<ref name="th2" /><ref name="unt">{{cite web |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-4313:1 |title=British and Indian influences in the identities and literature of Mark Tully and Ruskin Bond |last=Lakhani |first=Brenda |year=2003 |publisher=University of North Texas |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref> before going to England for further schooling from the age of nine. There he was educated at [[Twyford School]] (Hampshire), [[Marlborough College]] and at [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]], where he studied [[Theology]].<ref name="th2">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/06/18/stories/2007061850540100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110626051043/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/06/18/stories/2007061850540100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 June 2011 |title=Meeting Mark |date=18 June 2007 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref>

After Cambridge, Tully intended becoming a priest in the [[Church of England]] but abandoned the vocation after just two terms at [[Lincoln Theological College]], admitting later that he had doubts about "trusting [his] sexuality to behave as a Christian priest".<ref name="BBC" /> His personal life has been complex. In 2001 he married Margaret, with whom he has four children, and when in London he lives with his wife. When in India, however, he lives with his girlfriend Gillian Wright.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1735083.stm |title=Mark Tully: The Voice of India|date=31 December 2001 |publisher=BBC |access-date=28 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Mighty-words-indeed/article14990094.ece |title=Mighty Words Indeed |date=1 November 2016 |newspaper=The Hindu |access-date=28 April 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Mark Tully.jpg|thumb|Mark Tully at a function in Delhi in Feb 2007]]
==Journalistic career==
Tully joined the [[BBC]] in 1964 and moved back to India in 1965 to work as the corporation's India Correspondent.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name="uy" /><ref name="LAT">{{cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/61846854.html?dids=61846854:61846854&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+22%2C+1992&author=BOB+DROGIN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Profile+The+BBC%27s+Battered+Sahib+Mark+Tully+has+been+expelled+by+India%2C+chased+by+mobs+and+picketed.+He+loves+his+job. |title=Profile The BBC's Battered Sahib Mark Tully has been expelled by India, chased by mobs and picketed. He loves his job. |last=Drogin |first=Bob |date=22 December 1992 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref> He covered all the major incidents in South Asia during his tenure, ranging from [[Indo-Pakistan conflict]]s, [[Bhopal gas tragedy]], [[Operation Blue Star]] (and the subsequent assassination of [[Indira Gandhi]], [[anti-Sikh riots]]), [[Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi]] to the [[Ayodhya debate#Demolition of Babri Masjid|Demolition of Babri Masjid]].<ref name="CNN" /><ref name="BBC-bluestar">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/history/operationbluestar.shtml |title=After Blue Star |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="BBC-babri">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2528025.stm |title=Tearing down the Babri Masjid |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 January 2010 |date=5 December 2002 |location=London |first=Mark |last=Tully}}</ref> He was barred from entering India during Emergency in 1975–77 when Prime Minister Mrs Gandhi had imposed censorship curbs on the media.

Tully resigned from the BBC in July 1994, after an argument with [[John Birt]], the then Director General. He accused Birt of "running the corporation by fear" and "turning the BBC into a secretive monolith with poor ratings and a demoralised staff".<ref name="ti" />
In 1994 he presented an episode of BBCs Great Railway Journeys "Karachi to The Khyber Pass" travelling by train across Pakistan.
Since 1994 he has been working as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in New Delhi.<ref name="uy">{{cite web|url=http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/pressreleases/tully.htm|title=Mark Tully to give annual Toleration lecture at the University of York|publisher=The University of York|access-date=25 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018203226/http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/pressreleases/tully.htm|archive-date=18 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CNN">{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/12/31/tully.knighthood/|title=It's Sir Mark Tully in UK honors list|date=31 December 2001|publisher=CNN|access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref>
He was the regular presenter of the weekly [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''[[Something Understood]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/people/presenters/mark-tully/|title=Mark Tully|publisher=BBC Radio 4|access-date=26 September 2010}}</ref> until the BBC announced its cessation in 2019.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mark Tully: BBC Radio 4 host speaks out on shock programme axe 'I feel sad for myself'|first=Michelle|last=Marshall|url=https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1114613/mark-tully-bbc-radio-4-something-understood-axed-latest-news|work=[[Daily Express]]|location=London|date=16 April 2019|access-date=21 April 2019}}</ref>

As a guest of the [[Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue]] on 7 October 2010 he spoke on ''How certain should we be? The problem of religious pluralism''. He described his experiences and the fact that India had historically been home to all the world's major religions.
He said that had taught him that there are many ways to God.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/former-bbc-india-chief-highlights-multiple-paths-god |publisher=Hindu American Foundation |title=Former BBC-India Chief Highlights Multiple Paths To God |date=19 October 2010 |access-date=12 April 2012}}</ref>
Tully is patron of the British branch of [[Child In Need Institute (CINI)|Child in Need India]] (CINI UK).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cini.org.uk/about.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-01-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120104023/http://www.cini.org.uk/about.html |archive-date=20 January 2012 }}</ref>
Tully is equally well versed in English and [[Hindi]]. He had contributed his heartfelt efforts to keep literature alive and had been key speaker among 50 speakers of second [[Kalinga Literary Festival]] on 17 May 2015, where he explored the role of literature in nation building.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-05-02|title=50 Speakers to attend Kalinga Literary Festival 2015|url=https://odishanewsinsight.com/events/50-speakers-to-attend-kalinga-literary-festival-2015/|access-date=2020-11-07|website=Odisha News Insight|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
Tully was made an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] in 1985 and was awarded the [[Padma Shree]] in 1992.<ref name="th2" /> He was [[knight]]ed in the [[New Year Honours 2002]],<ref name="PTI">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2002/01/01/stories/2002010101621500.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629052710/http://www.hindu.com/2002/01/01/stories/2002010101621500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2011 |title=An honour, says Tully |date=1 January 2002 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref> receiving a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire|KBE]], and in 2005 he received the [[Padma Bhushan]].<ref name="ig">{{cite web |url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/padmabhushan_awards_list1.php?start=120 |title=Padma Bhushan Awardees |year=2005 |publisher=Indian government |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref> BAFTA in 1985 for lifelong achievement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1985/television/richard-dimbleby-award|title=BAFTA Awards|website=awards.bafta.org|access-date=2016-11-25}}</ref>
He was conferred the coveted RedInk Lifetime Achievement Award of the Mumbai Press Club

==Books==
Tully's first book on India ''Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle'' (1985) was co-authored with his colleague at BBC Delhi, Satish Jacob; the book dealt with the events leading up to [[Operation Blue Star]], Indian military action carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984 to remove militant religious leader [[Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale]] and his followers from the buildings of the [[Harmandir Sahib]] (Golden Temple) complex in [[Amritsar]], Punjab.

His next book ''Raj to Rajiv: 40 Years of Indian Independence'' was written with Zareer Masani, and was based on a BBC radio series of the same name. In the US, this book was published under the title ''India: Forty Years of Independence''.

Tully's ''No Full Stops in India'' (1988), a collection of journalistic essays, was published in the US as ''The Defeat of a Congress-man''. [[The Independent]] wrote that ''"Tully's profound knowledge and sympathy .. unravels a few of the more bewildering and enchanting mysteries of the subcontinent."''<ref name="Independent">{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--paperbacks-no-full-stops-in-india--mark-tully-penguin-pounds-699-1552481.html |title=The Independent |publisher=independent.co.uk |work=Book Review: No Full Stops in India |date=20 September 1992 |access-date=22 November 2011}}</ref>

Tully's only work of fiction, ''The Heart of India'', was published in 1995.

In 2002 came ''India in Slow Motion'', written in collaboration with Gillian Wright and published by Viking. Reviewing the book in ''[[The Observer]]'', Michael Holland wrote of Tully that ''"Few foreigners manage to get under the skin of the world's biggest democracy the way he does, and fewer still can write about it with the clarity and insight he brings to all his work."''<ref name="Observer">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/07/features.review?INTCMP=SRCH |title=The Observer |publisher=guardian.co.uk |work=Slow Progress: Michael Holland on India in Slow Motion by Mark Tully |date=7 December 2003 |access-date=22 November 2011 |author=Holland, Michael}}</ref>

Tully later wrote ''India's Unending Journey'' (2008) and ''India: The Road Ahead'' (2011), published in India under the title ''Non-Stop India''.

In the area of religion, Tully has written ''An Investigation into The Lives of Jesus'' (1996) to accompany the BBC series of the same name, and ''Mother'' (1992) on [[Mother Teresa]].

The anonymously authored ''Hindutva Sex and Adventure'' is a novel featuring a main character with strong similarities to Tully. Tully himself has stated that "I am amazed that Roli Books should publish such thinly disguised plagiarism, and allow the author to hide in a cavalier manner behind a ''nom-de-plume''. The book is clearly modelled on my career, even down to the name of the main character. That character's journalism is abysmal, and his views on Hindutva and Hinduism do not in any way reflect mine. I would disagree with them profoundly".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/7552715/Former-BBC-correspondent-Sir-Mark-Tully-attacked-in-novel.html |title=Former BBC correspondent Sir Mark Tully attacked in novel |first=Dean |last=Nelson |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=5 April 2010 |access-date=27 September 2010 |location=London}}</ref>

His latest book ''Upcountry Tales: Once Upon A Time In The Heart Of India'' (2017) is a collection of short stories set in rural north India.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mark Tully's latest from the frontlines of 'upcountry India'|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/mark-tully-s-latest-from-the-frontlines-of-upcountry-india/496509.html|website=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|access-date=9 January 2018|date=12 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A date with destiny|url=http://www.tabla.com.sg/jrsrc/050118full/epage004/TA20180105-TAB-004-00.html|website=[[tabla!]]|access-date=9 January 2018|date=5 January 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Mark Tully}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1735083.stm Mark Tully: The voice of India]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/somethingunderstood.shtml BBC Radio 4 programme "Something Understood"]

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{SAARC Literary Award}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & Education}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tully, Mark}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Lincoln Theological College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British Christians]]
[[Category:British radio personalities]]
[[Category:British travel writers]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Journalists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at Marlborough College]]
[[Category:People educated at Twyford School]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]

Mark Tully - Revision history

MadelaineStanfie: further adjust details for consistency also and cleaned formatting

->Ramesh lalwani: I added image to this article #WPWP