Bob Harvie - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bob Harvie was a popular announcer of Radio Ceylon

Radio Ceylon

Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.- Edward Harper :...

. Harvie's voice was inextricably linked to cricket commentaries from the island of Ceylon. He has led the English cricket commentary team from Radio Ceylon and subsequently the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation came into existence on January 5, 1967 when Radio Ceylon became a public corporation. Dudley Senanayake who was the Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1967 ceremonially opened the newly established Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation along with Minister Ranasinghe...

. Harvie has been a significant figure where cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

commentaries from Sri Lanka are concerned and he has been on the radio on Ceylon test matches against visiting England teams.

Bob Harvie has made his commentaries when the Ceylon team was captained by Anura Tennekoon

Anura Tennekoon

Anura Tennekoon is a former cricketer.and captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He was educated at the S. Thomas' College in Mount Lavinia. After captaining the school team and being selected as best schoolboy batsman of the year, Tennekoon went on to play first-class cricket for the...

and Michael Tissera

Michael Tissera

Michael Hugh Tissera is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played three ODIs in 1975.He was educated at the prestigious S.Thomas College in Mount Lavinia where he captained the Thomian cricket team at the Royal Thomian Test series which is known as The Battle of the Blues on two occasions in 1957...

. Bob Harvie was Ceylon's ' John Arlott

John Arlott

Leslie Thomas John Arlott OBE was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's Test Match Special. He was also a poet, wine connoisseur and former police officer in Hampshire...

' and enjoyed huge popularity as a cricket commentator, giving his ball by ball commentaries over Radio Ceylon, alongside other great Ceylonese commentators such as Norton Pereira

Norton Pereira

Norton Pereira was a broadcaster with Radio Ceylon and subsequently the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.He made his mark as a top class cricket commentator with the SLBC, commentating in English - he covered most of the international and national fixtures for the SLBC including schools cricket...

The Royal-Thomian Encounter

Bob Harvie has also been on the Radio Ceylon, CBC commentary team covering the annual Royal–Thomian cricket match, the 'Battle of the Blues', the oldest unbroken Ceylonese cricket match between S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia and Royal College Colombo

Royal College Colombo

The Royal College of Colombo was founded in January 1835 in Colombo. It is considered to be the leading Public School in Sri Lanka...

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He was also known for covering the Kandy Perahara, Army Tattoo, Remembrance Day Parade as well as being in charge of Rugby and Boxing Commentaries over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon/Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

The Art of Commentary

Sriyani de Silva, in an obituary published in the Sunday Times in Colombo observed: 'Bob Harvie was the toast of the sports world, when it came to the art of commentary! Apart from his impeccable diction and use of the appropriate and accurate facts, names and terminology ~ which he was an absolute stickler for - Bob was able to bring any event vividly alive to listeners island wide, and even in the sub-continent if I remember right, in those days when TV did not exist. His almost magical word-wizardry would encapsulate in his own inimitable style, all the excitement of a crucial rugby encounter, magnificent Independence parade, nail-biting motor sports event, beauty pageant or black tie dinner-dance. I think I can safely say, the likes of him has never been matched.'

Harvie lived in Sri Lanka until his death in July 2010.

External links

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The Royal-Thomian Encounter

The Art of Commentary

See also

External links