Popular historian Randor Guy dies at 86

CHENNAI: Eighty-six-year-old columnist and historian Madabhushi Rangadorai popularly known as 'Randor Guy' died in the city on Sunday.

Guy rose to popularity by writing on varied topics such as films, crime, law and music. And many admirers and his counterparts spoke of his memory and ability to add personal touch in any subject.

Guy has written several books in Tamil and English languages, recording key incidents in Madras. Interestingly, during his time, Guy was known to be the only one to have such deep knowledge in Madras history and to have recorded it.

Speaking to DT Next, historian V Sriram recalled how Guy was a phenomenal writer and a speaker. "He had a wonderful memory for names and places. And one of the interesting things about him is his tactics in bringing people alive in his stories. Rather than speaking about broad movements and trends of his times and in each field, he would narrate personalities and do their intimate profiles, including their habits and behaviour, and how it contributes to their success."

Further, Sriram spoke on Guy's knowledge on histories like cinema, crime and law. "Guy's knowledge was not limited to Tamil films and personalities, but he also possessed deep knowledge on Hindi, Telugu and other language films, making him a big social historian."

Likewise, journalist and editor of The Mylapore Times Vincent D'Souza added that Guy was one of the best storytellers of Madras. "He had a fantastic memory on many subjects. And his area of expertise was the Madras Presidency crime. Besides his knowledge and outstanding memory, the reason for his success was his ability to articulate stories by adding a lot of spice in cinema, crime or other fields."