# Premil Ratnayake

Premil Ratnayake, (Sinhala: ප්‍රෙමිල් රත්නායක; 3 April 1933 – 10 April 2013), was a Sri Lankan journalist, author, writer, diplomat, and former First Secretary (Press and Information). Ratnayake was a prominent journalist, having worked at The Lake House, The Daily News, and The Island.
He also worked under Lalith Athulathmudali, as Press Secretary, at the Ministry of Trade and Shipping. In 1984 he was assigned to Bonn, Germany, as First Secretary, for Press and Information, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later while in retirement, he returned to The Daily News for a short period.

## Early life

Ratnayake Mudianselage Premil Ratnayake was born on 3 April 1933, in Hatton, Ceylon. He was the fourth son of Mudianselage Marshal Ratnayake and Rossyln Paranavitanage. He had four siblings; Willy, Wimala, Edwin (former Commissioner of Labour) and Lal, former DIG. Ratnayake was an exceptionally talented student, athlete, boxer and cadet at Ananda College.

## Personal life

Premil married Jasmine Ratnayake in 1964, they had three children; Manohari, Sirimali, and Nayomini Ratnayake Weerasooriya.

## Journalism and writing career

Ratnayake started his career working at the Bank of Ceylon. Afterwards, he left to pursue his passion, which was writing. Ratnayake then joined the Lake House, working as a journalist for the Ceylon Daily News. Premil worked alongside the likes of Mervyn de Silva who was the editor of the Lake House, Willie de Alwis D. B. Dhanapala, and Christie Seneviratne. Ratnayake, while being a skilled writer, could also speak Sinhalese, Tamil and Hindi.

### Apollo 12 crew tour

In March 1970, Premil covered the historic event of the arrival of the Apollo 12 mission crew in Ceylon, for the Ceylon Daily News, part of a 20-nation goodwill tour, to celebrate the successful voyage to and back from the Moon. The Apollo 12 was the second spaceflight to land men on the Moon, it consisted of Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Alan L. Bean. The crew was welcomed by the then Minister of State, J. R. Jayewardene, US Ambassador Andrew Corry, and the Mayor of Colombo, Vincent Perera.

### 1977 Parliamentary elections

Ratnayake was assigned to cover the 1977 Parliamentary elections, this assignment entailed covering all the election meetings held by J. R. Jayewardene (Leader of the Opposition at the time), on behalf of the Ceylon Daily News. They covered almost all parts of the island.

## Government positions

Later in his career, Ratnayake was invited by Lalith Athulathmudali to join the Ministry of Trade and Shipping, as the Press Secretary, in order to handle publicity for the Ministry. In 1984, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently sent him to Bonn, Germany, as First Secretary, for Press and Information.

## Post retirement

After retiring, Ratnayake returned to Lake House, to write for The Daily News briefly. Since he was a writer and journalist belonging to the old world order, he didn't fancy writing on computers, and managed to get himself the only typewriter left at the Lake House as he simply says "To hell with the modernity, the scuttling mouse. All this sophisticated hi-fi gadgetry nauseates me and threatens to kill my journalistic creativity. Give me the typewriter any day – I am like an orphan child re-united with his mother. To be true I detest the computer. Only the typewriter can instil in me the desire to write. Its touch the loving caress, inspires me. Maybe I am naive and old-fashioned but I am me and I am in love with the old mistress."

## Death

Ratnayake died on 10 April 2013, at the age of 80.