For decades, the rich, warm tones of Sir Mark were familiar to BBC audiences in Britain and around the world - a much-admired foreign correspondent and respected reporter and commentator on India. He covered war, famine, riots and assassinations, the Bhopal gas tragedy and the Indian army's storming of the Sikh Golden Temple.
In the small north Indian city of Ayodhya in 1992, he faced a moment of real peril. He witnessed a huge crowd of Hindu hardliners tear down an ancient mosque. Some of the mob - suspicious of the BBC - threatened him, chanting "Death to Mark Tully". He was locked in a room for several hours before a local official and a Hindu priest came to his aid.