Rise to Sir Trevor

But it will evoke an immediate iconic ring if mentioned in the United Kingdom, and the European Union for that matter, testimony of the excellence this Trinidadian brought to the profession both as a news anchor and field correspondent during his many years living and working in the UK.

Trevor — now Sir Trevor, an appendage that is also an acknowledgement and appreciation of his service via broadcasting to British society and his many accomplishments — is back home this weekend for the 50th anniversary observances of the death of Sir Frank Worrell, another legendary figure, this time from the world of cricket when the West Indies was king of the game.

But outside of the main event, Sir Trevor returned to his roots in San Fernando yesterday and, in particular, to his alma mater, Naparima College, to demonstrate to youngsters who may have scarcely ever heard of him — after all he is 77, and his era was from the late 1950s — that they could be the best in what they want to be.

In this regard, it was at Naps that McDonald and some enterprising students launched a radio project that broadcast to the school population at set times during the day.

Little did he know that he was planting the first seeds that would germinate to have him rise to the very top of the profession, and in a country that has demanded only the highest standards in broadcasting and was not really known for accommodating black faces on their television screens when he migrated in 1969.

Accordingly, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Independent Television News to this day are global flagship broadcast institutions, and Trevor McDonald has had his hands on both their decks, many a time guiding their journey to wherever, whenever and by whomever in the world news was in the making.

So his professional passport would have been stamped by countries on every continent, facilitating his coverage from actual mayhem to talks to end mayhem, his microphones before the lips of international personalities like Nelson Mandela, Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, and Bill Clinton, to mention a few.

For the work that Sir Trevor generated, his mantlepiece abounds with innumerable awards, more than any other broadcaster in Britain, where he was voted Newscaster of the Year on several occasions, and also regularly topped the polls as the most authoritative and trustworthy news presenter.

But before all this, there was home: Trinidad and Tobago, and beyond his broadcast baptism at Naparima College, there was Radio Trinidad, where he rose through the ranks from announcer to deputy programme director, and of course as a newscaster at Trinidad and Tobago Television in its infancy. He excelled as a cricket commentator and sports reporter, hence his suitability to be a part of the Sir Frank Worrell event in Trinidad this weekend.

The Caribbean Broadcasting Union also inducted him into the prestigious Caribbean Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Sir Trevor is home at a time when Trinidad and Tobago has witnessed an explosion of broadcast institutions in a relatively short space of time, and sometimes where who shouts the loudest and is the most outlandish lays claim to, and is often hailed as, being the best in the business. It is hoped that at least some of them would aspire to the standards that have enabled Trevor McDonald to be regarded as one of the best globally for which he could have been ceremonially commanded by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1999 to rise Sir Trevor.