Vernon Corea

Vernon Corea was one of the world\'s greatest broadcasters - he was born on the island of Ceylon. The \'Hindu\' newspapers placed him among the \'greats\' in the world of broadcasting.



Vernon was born in Kurana, Katunayke on September 11th, 1927. His father Rev. Ivan Corea was a curate at the St.Phillips Church in Kurana in 1927. The Corea family are descendants of Dominicus Corea who was crowned King of Kotte in the 16th century.



Vernon Corea\'s parents were the late Canon Ivan Corea and Ouida Corea, one time Rural Dean of Colombo of the Church of Sri Lanka and Vicar of St. Lukes Church, Borella. In the late 1950s Canon Corea was appointed Vicar of St.Paul\'s Milagiriya.



Vernon Corea was educated at Royal College, Colombo where he played a full role in the life of the school - from debating society to playing tennis. He was also educated at Bishop\'s Theological College in Calcutta, India but decided not to pursue ordination.



Vernon Corea returned to Sri Lanka and went into teaching at Uva College, Badulla where he met his wife, Monica, who was also a teacher. After the death of their first born son Harishchandra, Vernon and Monica moved to Colombo. He worked briefly for Car Mart and then joined Radio Ceylon as a Relief Announcer in 1956.



Vernon was appointed as an Announcer in Radio Ceylon in 1957 by the Director of the Commercial Service, Clifford R.Dodd. Vernon had the joined the \'greats\'   - Livy Wijemanne, Pearl Ondaatje, Tim Horshington, Greg Roskowski, Jimmy Barucha, Mil Sansoni, Eardley Peiris,Shirley Perera, Bob Harvie, Chris Greet, Prosper Fernando, Ameen Sayani (of Binaca Geet Mala fame), S.P. Mylvaganam (the first Tamil Announcer on the Commercial Service), H.M.Gunasekera to name a few. They blazed a trail in broadcasting in South Asia. Vernon also worked with the legendary Karunaratne Abeysekera, they were very close friends.



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