On the passing of broadcaster Winston Maynard, his peer Alfred Aguiton offered this tribute.

You heard him long before you saw him!

That was how you could ‘buss a fatigue’ on Winston “Greek”/“Fitzie” Maynard—paying him a compliment about the resonance of his voice and simultaneously teasing him about the self-sufficiency of his height.

Truth is, he more than enlarged his standing by the power of his delivery and his presence.

His was a British-accented style of speaking, in the tradition of the Rediffusion/Radio Trinidad announcers of the 1950s and onwards.

The best known flag-bearer of that style was, of course, the Radio Trinidad alumnus Sir Trevor McDonald who migrated from Claxton Bay, to 11B Maraval Road, and thence to the U.K., first to the BBC and later to ITN…to go on to achieve spectacular worldwide fame.

Winston was too modest and gentlemanly to attempt to step into Sir Trevor’s shoes, but he was nevertheless a distinguished follower on his professional pathway.

He mastered the articulation, the tender but precise treatment of words, the dramatic pauses, the cadence that came with proper breathing, the conveying to the listener a feeling of wanting to say things but by only way of English understatement.

He was able to bring all those tools and techniques to his live commentary as well as to his stints as a Master of Ceremonies.

One of the skills that was unique to Fitzie was his ability in the midst of all his ‘Britishness’ to suddenly insert an authentic Trini phrasing, without losing his rhythm or his audience.

Now, at his thoroughly unnecessary passing, Winston’s loss presents us with the sad admission that a bearer of standards is gone.

The pain of that loss increases when we realize that we will continue to be threatened by those who assault microphones every day with words stripped of their “th”s, and the “u” shoved at us as “o”—so we hear of “repoblic” for ‘republic’, and “tear-tar” for ‘theatre’.

Alas, we live in hope.

Winston…wherever you are old boy, accept our thanks—for the memory of how it was, and how it should be.