Melville De Mellowwas a premier broadcaster of India. I myself first heard him on AIR in the nineteensixties. I don’t whether he was an Anglo Indian or a Goan or East Indian orMangalorean. He sounded quite like an Englishman to me!
An articleconcerning his widow recently caught my eye. Since it involves Goan MP MrShantaram Naik I share it with you, aswell as the Wikipedia piece on him. >From Webindia https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20120923/2069219.html Prasar Bharti hasrestored monthly grant to Emma De Mellow, widow of world famous commentator ofAll India Radio of his time Melville De Mellow, who had created a record of itskind by giving a non-stop account for seven hours of Mahatma Gandhi's lastjourney. In a goodwill gesture towards the fondmemories of the late commentator, Prasar Bharti has not only restored themonthly grant to Ms Emma De Mellow, but has also enhanced the same from Rs 1500to Rs 5000, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni informed thisrecently to Goan MP Shantaram Naik, who had raised the issue in Parliament. The Prasar Bharti has also sanctioned aspecial grant of financial assistance of Rs 50,000 as a special award and as aone time measure to Ms De Mellow, Ms Soni said in her letter. Ms De Mellow had rendered seven hours ofcommentary from a van of All India Radio on Mahatma Gandhi's last journey fromBirla House to Rajghat in 1948. Welcoming the decision, Mr Naik stated thatMelville De Mellow carried an iconic stature as a commentator and newscaster inthe All India Radio. "De Mellow's radio commentary of India-PakistanHockey Match was also an event to be remembered," he recalled. The commentary of Republic Day Parade,rendered by him for several years, is remembered, even today, decades after hepassed away at the age of 76 in 1989, Mr Naik said. The pension that was granted to her inMarch, 2008 was discontinued on the grounds that there was no provision to thateffect, and Mr Oscar Fernandes, General Secretary of AICC had also written tothe Minister in this regard. UNI MK BDP 1342 NNNN -- (UNI) -- 23DI11.xml >From Wikipedia Melville deMellow (also de Mello) (1913 - 1989) was an Indian radiobroadcaster with the AllIndia Radio. He is rememberedfor his high quality reports and commentary on various events in independent India, the most notable of which is a seven-hour broadcast of Mahatma Gandhi's funeral in Delhi.[1] He was conferred the PadmaShri by the Government of India in 1963 in recognition of his services to broadcasting.[2] De Mellow was educated atthe St George's College, Mussorie and served as a Lieutenant in the 5/2 Punjab Regiment before joining the All India Radio.[3] He was married to Coralie Emma De Mellow[4] and his nephew Ian Tudor de Mellow is a recipient ofthe Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his services to aged welfare.[5] Melville de Mellow worked with the All India Radio from April1950 to April 1971 and belonged to the ‘staff artistes’ category. Following hissuperannuation he was retained as Producer (Emeritus) for another five yearswith AIR.[6] Demellow is remembered as an iconicbroadcaster noted for his deep baritoned commentaryof various events in independent India.[1][7] In 1948 he accompanied the cortegebearing Mahatma Gandhi's body from Birla House tothe cremation venueat Raj Ghat givinga seven-hour-long commentary of the event from an All India Radio van. Melvillede Mellow's moving commentary that day, articulating the nation's grief andhomage as the cortege moved towards Raj Ghat, is remembered as one of the bestinstances of radio broadcasting in India.[8] His commentary that day inspired veteranHindi commentator JasdevSingh, then a seventeen-year-old, to take up commentary as aprofession. Singh has since been conferred with a Padma Shri and a Padma Bhushan forhis services to radio broadcasting.[9][10] In 1952 Melville de Mellow washandpicked by the BritishGovernment for broadcasting a running commentary on Queen Elizabeth’s coronation procession.[7] He was also the commentator at India'sRepublic Day parade for several years and his commentaryof India-Pakistan hockey matchesare remembered to this day.[11] His reportage on the Bangladesh War andits subsequent liberation by Indian forces were keenly awaitedby listeners of the radio.[12] Melville de Mellow is theauthor of several books on sports including The Story of the Olympics, which describes the run up to the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo,[13] Remembered Glory, The Olympics and their Heroes, Reaching for Excellence, The Glory and Decay of Indian Sports and Indigenous Games & Martial Arts of India.[2] Melville de Mellow wasfeted for his work throughout his career. These include the CommonwealthScholarship (BBC), 1948, Czechoslovak Radio Documentary Prize, 1960, PadmaShree (1963), PrizeItalia for Radio Documentary (1964) - which he won for 'Laliand the Lions of Gir', a featured program on All India Radio,[14] Chaman Lal Award (1971), Czechoslovak Peace Essay Prize(1972), Excellence Award (ICFEE), 1975, Commentary Award (1975), EducationMinistry's Award for Best Book on Sports (1976), Long Service Award (1977), FTEAward for Excellence in Radio & TV and the Asiad Jyoti Award (1984).[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melville_de_Mellow
