This book, with its pot pourri of cricketing items and photographs, was published in 1998 by the Walla Walla Press in Sydney. It was enabled by (A) the cooperation of two authors who never met each other: one Michael Roberts …. a Sri Lankan Australian in Adelaide and one Alfred James, an Aussie in Sydney who had a unique collection of cricketing statistics on Australian tours abroad which provided the pertinent data on their whistle-stop matches in Colombo on the trips to Britain and back – rare data that.
David Sansoni, whose preferred title is “STC – an unauthorised history of Lanka’s greatest Public School”
Richard Simon’s ‘history of Lanka’s greatest public school’, is an epic poem!
Epic, in its reach; poetic, in its lyricism, this towering, magnificent opus is a pearl, of both history and literature. “STC” touches the soul and core, of historophile, linguaphile and bibliophile; Christian, Lankan and, above all, Thomian.
Engaging CROSSCURRENTS: Young James Sansoni’s Selections from the book Crosscurrents:Sri Lanka and Australia at Cricket (1998, Sydney, Walla Walla Press)
James Clifton Tilden Sansoni of Sydney has dipped a selective hand into the pages of Crosscurrents — thereby rendering a service. It prompts me to tell the world about the contributions of Alfred James, an Australian whom I never met, and the supporting hands of both Richard Cashman of the Walla Walla Press in Sydney and Cathy Ashtonof Mobitel in Colombo, without whom this book would never have seen daylight. THAT will be in separate tales in Thuppahi. Let Clifton’s input take centre-stage here.
Note that behind an enterprising young one, there is a grandpa: one David Sansoni of Colombo and Sydney.
DL Sirimanne from Kohuwela has reached his century and proceeded another three years beyond. From the vantage of age, he is quite scathing in his concluding summary …. in the Sunday Observer 22 January 2023 … where the title is “A bit of Ceylon History. Pass it on to you children”
David Sansoni, in The Sunday Observer, 22 January 2023, where the title reads “Peter Colin-Thome: A Multi-faceted Personality”
Peter Colin-Thomé was a buddy of my cousin Dominic Sansoni and of a few of my friends and acquaintances. It was at Dominic’s home, on Anderson Road, Bambalapitiya, we first met, circa 1973.
Peter immediately made an impression. Tall, well-groomed and well-spoken – that sonorous Bass voice. His father, Percy, was a ‘name’ in Colombo circles, as was Peter’s mum, Moira.
Uditha Devapriya, in Item on 21 January 2023 entitled “Sumitra Peries Obituary: Poet of Sri Lankan Cinema”
Sumitra Epitaph Peries lived a life of travel and adventure before enrolling in film school in Brixton and going on to become one of the major, politically conscious figures in Sri Lankan cinema.
Translation by Vinod Moonesinghe from Robert Gunawardena’s“Memoirs of Bracegirdle” … 1.44 to
Robert Gunawardena
Mark Anthony Bracegirdle
“Bracegirdle’s anti-slavery struggle”
In April 1937, a remarkable incident took place which strengthened the anti-imperialist struggle and aroused the interest of the masses. That is, the Bracegirdle Incident which is spoken about by older people to this day.
Rohan Pethiyagoda to speak on “Serendipity: The Discovery of Sri Lanka’s Biodiversity Heritage” … in The Roland Silva Memorial Lecture for the National Trust of Sri Lanka, 26 January 2023, ... 6.00 pm … on Zoomhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/81249396683
Sri Lanka’s natural wealth—its species, landscapes and ecosystems—are justly celebrated in it being recognized as part of a Global Biodiversity Hotspot. Yet, we rarely stop to wonder how this incredible heritage came to be discovered. This lecture tells the tale of this voyage of discovery: the doctors and the housewives who became botanical explorers; a village lad who rose to number among Asia’s most famous illustrators; a tea planter who went on to become president of the Royal Entomological Society... In the course of his career, the speaker has delved into archives in both Sri Lanka and Europe to piece together the life stories of these remarkable men and women. In this lecture he celebrates their achievements and their all too human foibles: their rivalries, jealousies, eccentricities and not least, their genius. Richly illustrated with portraits, works of art and anecdotes, the lecture will relate the story of the explorations that led to the discoveries that in turn gave rise to the literature upon which knowledge of our living island is based upon. In short, the speaker explains how deserving it is that the phenomenon of serendipity takes its name from the classical moniker for Sri Lanka.
Douglas and Estelle, singing duo affectionately referred to as the Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy of Sri Lanka, met while entertaining the troops during the Second World War.
Michael Roberts
