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Hitting the Airwaves with “SINHALA CONSCIOUSNESS” in Kandyan Times-by Michael Roberts An Innings of Worthy Service: Vale …. Revd Vernon Regis-by Michael Roberts Irish Women beat Sri Lankans in Nail-biting ODI Match in Ireland-by Michael Roberts Rex Clementine & His Magical Moments-by Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts

Hitting the Airwaves with “SINHALA CONSCIOUSNESS” in Kandyan Times-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis A recent ‘rash’ of email messages has indicated that some personnel are searching for copies of my book Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period, 1590s to 1815, published in 2004 by Vijitha Yapa Publications … ISBN 955-809553-2; while a few are not even aware of its existence. It seems that it may be out of print now – an issue for well-heeled Sri Lankans to address in partnership with the Yapa firm. Be that as it may, this state of affairs indicates that some advertisements  for this book should be placed in the digital realm. The book launch in Colombo organised by firm Yapa with GL Peiris as speaker** is one step. This pictorial fare is supplemented by some basic information about the book and the reprinted of a few historical illustrations contained within it – a mere pinch of the ‘salty pictures’ that ...

Sep 7, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , ,
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An Innings of Worthy Service: Vale …. Revd Vernon Regis-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Vernon Regis was my senior team-mate in the cricket and soccer teams of St Aloysius in Galle for a couple of years. A left-hand batsmen with a sound technique and a medium-pace bowler, Vernon was an asset to any cricketing team. We lost touch in the decades that followed; but the subsequent accounts of his life’s work  — with one detailed tale by Ivan Kevitiyagala in the Daily Mirror reprinted in TPS (see https://thuppahis.com/2019/03/02/jesuit-priest-extraordinary-fr-vernon-regis-s-j/… The presentation here today is more pictorial than affirmative in ink. Pictures do convey meaning.  They demonstrate that Vernon has pursued a meaningful life in Canada and Sri Lanka.  He can now rest in peace. Click here to receive your free copy of the eLanka Newsletter twice a week delivered directly to your inbox! ...

Aug 25, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , ,
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Irish Women beat Sri Lankans in Nail-biting ODI Match in Ireland-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Late at night in Adelaide I followed the last few overs in their internet written form in the absence of TV media footage. Prendergast was unstoppable and clearly unflappable.   Chamari had failed in batting for once and the Irish may have benefited from home advantage.  Outcome is good for cricket. OLGA PRENDERGAST”s photo defied copying !@#! Report in the Island … because ESPN has removed theirs !@#! Orla Prendergast pulled off a stunning heist, picking up 3 for 25 and following it up with an unbeaten 122 off 107 balls as Ireland beat Sri Lanka by three wickets in the first ODI in Dublin. Sent in, Sri Lanka rode on Vishmi Gunaratne’s  maiden ODI century to rack up 260 for 8. In reply, Prendergast scored a maiden ODI century of her own to help Ireland record ...

Aug 19, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , , , ,
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Rex Clementine & His Magical Moments-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Rex has travelled far and wide in keeping track of Sri Lankan cricket … and even banged into me in Adelaide. However, this bethrothal event would have been one of his happiest moments. I am stretching my ‘license’ and selecting other moments in his life’s work which must have been quite special; while inserting references to the occasions when he strode into ‘the parlour of the’Thuppahi site — a mansion that is usuallly selective in its choices. https://cricketique.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/how-sri-lanka-transformed-themselves-in-south-africa-rex-clementine/ How Sri Lanka Transformed Themselves in South Africa — Rex Clementine February 24, 2019 ONE: Rex Clementine in Port Elizabeth, Sunday Island, 25 February 2019 = Karunaratne credits change of team culture for series win” Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne has credited changing the dressing room environment for the success his team enjoyed in South Africa. Sri Lanka arrived in Johannesburg straight from Australia having suffered successive humiliating series defeats ...

Aug 17, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , , ,
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Principles to Guide the Choice of Lanka’s Cricket Selectors-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Rather exceptionally for a lad from the plantation Tamil peoples in the mid-20th century Chandra Schaffter was educated at St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. He excelled at hockey and cricket in particular and went on to represent Ceylon in both sports in the 1950s. He became one of the Cricket Selection Committee headed by DWL Lieversz and others in the 1960s. He went on to found the JANASHAKTHI insurance company in 1994 — an enterprise that has been so solid that it gave him time to serve as the Manager of Sri Lankan cricket teams in the decade 2000s. Chandra also took the meaningful step of organising SS ‘Chandra’ Perera’s unique collection of cricketing memorabilia and cuttings in the Janashakthi Book of Cricket in the year 1999 … ……….. a godsend to historians of cricket as well as those involved in social history. I was ...

Aug 10, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , ,
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A Ceylon Cricket Eleven in Late 1958 …. Its Ethnic Mix-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Having come across “a drenching cricket story” from late in the year 1958  in my CRICKETIQUE website,  let me place it within THUPPAHI for reflection because the Cricketique site can be visited and read…  BUT is not readily open for comments or visited much. The LEAD PHOTO is of considerable significance because of the ethnic mix in Sri Lankan team — inclusive of a Malay man and another with Colombo Chetty lineage roots. ITEM originally in CRICKETIQUE, 22 December 2020, with this title “Facing Peter May’s MCC Side in Ceylon in 1958” A Sri Lankan enthusiast sent me this photograph of a Ceylon Eleven chosen to face a visiting England Team in 1958. I have sought out background information from two of those framed within this picture ….. and seek more data (and hopefully photographs) from cricketing aficianados with good memories and ...

Aug 1, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , , , ,
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Michael Roberts Mss stored at Adelaide University-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis The library at Adelaide Univeristy is known as the BARR-SMITH LIBRARY.  The staff in the “Special Collections” within the library over the years have been especially helpful over a long period and were hands-on central in organising the Roberts Oral History Project from the 1980s and subsequently (see https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/special/mss/roberts/ But it is by pure chance that I came across a document penned in my hand detailing the stock of manuscripts and photocopied material that I had placed within the Special Collections –maybe because our home is adjacent to a National Park and within a high fire-risk arena. Let me assure all ye readers that I have been stunned by some of the items that I have collected –some of them original Mss items; with the others being copies. but the main point is that some of these copies reproduce very rare items.  ...

Jul 27, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , ,
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Nationalisms in Ceylon: Origins, Stimulants and Ingredients-by MICHAEL ROBERTS Source:Thuppahis REPRODUCING CHAPTER III IN VOLUME I OF DOCUMENTS OF THE CEYLON NATIONAL CONGRESS AND NATIONALIST POLITICS IN CEYLON, 1929-1950, VOL I, 1977, DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL ARCHIVES, 1977 , PP. LXVIII–LXXVIII ** While the political activists of the first half of the twentieth century were drawn from both the national and the local elites, the political leadership (at significant island-wide levels) was largely composed of individuals who could be ranked among the national elite. As indicated earlier, the national elite was a small segment of the Ceylonese population. Its levels of wealth, power and status, its lifestyle, and its value-system marked it off from the rest of the population. In such circumstances, it is no surprise that the older, rosy image of “nationalists” as selfless-patriots who led the struggle against foreign political domination is no longer accepted. Indeed, the tendency in some circles today ...

Jul 6, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , ,
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Britain’s Deep Ethnic Mix marked in Oxford University’s ENCAENIA Degrees-by Michael Roberts Source: Thuppahis News Item: Six Honorary Degrees at ENCAENIA in Oxford University, JUNE 2024 …. Six distinguished individuals representing the fields of science, business, academia, music and entertainment received honorary degrees at the University’s annual Encaenia ceremony last week. The honorands were: Warren East, Sir Demis Hassabis, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sir Michael Palin, Anoushka Shankar and Professor Salim Yusuf. Click here to receive your free copy of the eLanka Newsletter twice a week delivered directly to your inbox! ...

Jul 6, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , , ,
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The Wettimuny Trio of Accomplished Opening Batsmen-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis The Sri Lankan world of cricket was well served in the past by an accomplished set of batsmen school at Ananda College and the Sinhalese Sports Club who were all, remarkably, opening batsmen. The first of these lads to hit the headlines was Mithra Wettimuny – the second in the brotherly line-up. As Captain of Ananda, [1] he was selected to lead the Ceylon schoolboys in their tour of India in 1969 ……. with guidance from managers A. D. Karunananda and Angelo Rayer. The squad had an outstanding tour – in fact securing a set of remarkable results (see Ranjan Anandappa’s recounting at https://thuppahis.com/2024/07/02/the-wettimuny-trio-of-accomplished-opening-batsmen/ as It was not Mithra, but the eldest Sunil that hit the headlines next when selected in the squad touring England for the ODI World Cup in 1975 – with Anura Tennekoon as captain and KMT Perera Sunil Wettimuny (Sri Lanka) ...

Jul 2, 2024 Posted by In Articles, Michael Roberts Tagged , , ,
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