26 Facts About Vernon Corea

Vernon Corea was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK.

Vernon Corea joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

Vernon Corea's parents were Reverend Canon Ivan Corea and Ouida Corea, and was the brother of Ernest Corea, a prominent journalist and former Ambassador to the United States.

Rev Vernon Corea was Vicar of St Luke's Church, Borella, and St Paul's Church, Milagiriya.

Vernon Corea's family hailed from the west coast town of Chilaw in Sri Lanka and were direct descendants of General Dominicus Corea, known as Edirille Rala who was tasked to take over Kotte in 1596 for King Vimala Dharmasurya I Vernon Corea's grandfather was Dr James Alfred Ernest Corea, brother of the famed freedom fighters of Sri Lanka, Charles Edgar Corea and Victor Corea, founders of the Chilaw Association and the Ceylon National Congress.

Vernon Corea was educated at Royal College, Colombo a well known education institution, in Sri Lanka.

Vernon Corea represented the school in tennis and was fully involved in the world of drama and the debating society.

Vernon Corea was sent by his father to Bishop's College, Calcutta, India for training into the priesthood.

Vernon Corea felt that the priesthood was not his vocation and returned to Ceylon, after the death of his mother.

Vernon Corea became well known as The Golden Voice of Radio Ceylon, representing shows of popular music, baila music, and western music.

Vernon Corea was later Business Manager, News Director at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

Vernon Corea represented the Director-General of the station at a Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference, when he was in the United Kingdom, on a six-month fellowship with the Nuffield Trust in 1970.

Vernon Corea 'discovered' many young Sri Lankan stars through his radio programmes on Radio Ceylon and promoted their musical talents in the EMCEE column in the Daily News in Colombo.

Vernon Corea was the first to introduce the talents of Clarence Wijewardena, Annesley Malewana, and others on English radio programmes, on Radio Ceylon.

When I got on to the stage and started singing Vernon Corea broke down and all of us were moved by this incident.

Vernon Corea created television history on the island of Sri Lanka when he was invited to present the first ever experimental television broadcast on 15 June 1972 by the Radio Society of Ceylon.

Vernon Corea appeared on television screens in Colombo, in black and white, on a short TV programme, this was history in the making.

Vernon Corea worked for Radio Worldwide based in Upper Norwood, then for BBC Radio London as a presenter for the popular London Sounds Eastern.

Vernon Corea interviewed many Asian stars, including Pandit Ravi Shankar and Usha Uthup.

Vernon Corea played a pivotal role in introducing and mentoring young, gifted and talented people into broadcasting.

Vernon Corea trained minority ethnic broadcasters and found placements for them on the BBC Local Radio Network.

Vernon Corea's work contributed to the diversity of the BBC.

Many of Vernon Corea's trainees are now presenters of mainstream radio programmes on BBC Radio.

Vernon Corea was invited to Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives to train broadcasters and was introduced to the President of the Maldives on a visit to Male, the capital.

The struggles of parents, carers, children and adults with autism was something Vernon Corea cared deeply about, after his own grandson was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Vernon Corea died of diabetes, in New Malden in London on 23 September 2002.