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[4]) and Lal, former DIG.[7] Ratnayake was an exceptionally talented student, athlete, boxer and cadet at Ananda College.[4]
Personal life
Premil married Jasmine Ratnayake in 1964, they had three children; Manohari, Sirimali, and Nayomini Ratnayake Weerasooriya.
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.[20]
After retiring, Ratnayake returned to Lake House, to write for The Daily News briefly.[10][22] 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[4][5][1] 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."[1]
Death
Ratnayake died on 10 April 2013, at the age of 80.[5][4][6]
Bibliography
Ratnayake wrote several books in his lifetime, four of which were published. One notable example was an autobiography of Lalith Athulathmudali.
War and Warriors (1996)
Ratnayake's first novel was published in 1996. The story follows Kumar Ranjana, a boy aged 10, and his life ordeals during World War II, following the Easter Sunday Raid, where Japanese forces attacked Ceylon on Easter Sunday.[23][24][25][26]