Barry O'Brien is one of the country's leading quizmasters, conducting quizzes across the country for schools, colleges and the corporate sector for the last 27 years. He has conducted over 2500 live quizzes in India, the Middle East, Nepal and Pakistan. He has enthralled quizzing crowds from Pilani to Patna and Powai, Kathmandu to Kharagpur and Karachi, Dubai to Delhi, Guwahati to Goa, and down South.
He has conducted several quiz shows on television and radio.
A skilled motivational speaker, he conducts workshops and inter-active sessions for Principals, teachers, corporate managers and executives, and students in Business Schools, colleges and professional institutes.
He regularly conducts several courses and workshops, developed and designed by him, on Public Speaking, Personality Development and Effective Communication in English at the Calcutta Media Institute (http://www.cmi.net.in/index.php) - his students range from the ages of 16 to 65!
Barry is one of India's most sought after Master of Ceremonies. He is as comfortable sharing the stage with Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and N R Narayana Murthy, as he is with fun-loving teenagers and special-needs children fighting the odds.
'Barry Sir' is an educationist whose classroom is the length and breadth of India. He regularly conducts motivational workshops and training sessions for teachers and students. Up to the mid 1990s, he taught at South Point High School in Kolkata, and went on to play a key role, as an administrator and educator, in its many successes.
His vast experience as a classroom teacher and a school administrator, coupled with his role (over the last two decades) as an educator on the move, has empowered him to hit the right chord with Principals, teachers and students.
As a social worker, he continues to reach out to people young and old, stressed and distressed, those challenged and those looking for challenges. He is the Chairman of the East India Charitable Trust that runs two Homes for Senior Citizens, a school and home for girls from disadvantaged families, a nursery school for underprivileged children, and provides monthly financial assistance and medical assistance to about 85 families living below the poverty line. 

He was nominated by the Governor of West Bengal to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly to represent the Anglo-Indian Community from 2006 to 2011.

Barry OBrien has co-authored Find Out, published by Oxford University Press, the largest selling General Knowledge series prescribed in over 1000 schools across India.

He has also co-authored Get Set Go, another OUP publication - it is a General Awareness and Life Skills series for school students.

Recently, he has authored Barry OBrien's General Knowledge Manual, published by Cengage Learning it is a student-friendly ready-reckoner for those preparing for competitive examinations conducted by various recruitment boards in India.

He is the force behind TTIS (The Telegraph in Schools), a weekly newspaper that twice (2004 & 2013)won the prestigious World Young Reader prize awarded by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) based in Paris.  

He has also personally inspired many meaningful youth initiatives, like Bonding Beyond Borders, a student exchange programme between the youth of India and Pakistan.

All this sit lightly on his head, as he continues to be the simple, down-to-earth, caring Calcuttan who touches lives in a special way.

Up-close and Personal

Barry is very proud of his alumni: St Xaviers Collegiate School, Calcutta;  St Columbas School, New Delhi; La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta; and Jadavpur University.

As a sports journalist in the mid 1980s, Barry enjoyed the on-the-move life skills education he received while being part of an incredibly talented team of journalists and writers in Sportsworld and ABP. But, following in his parents (Neil and Joyce O'Brien) and grandfathers (Dr Amos Peter O'Brien) footsteps, he too became a teacher. Then, having closely watched his parents working for the welfare of the Anglo-Indian community over the last 30 years, he decided to serve the Community as well.

Barrys wife, Denise, heads Admin/Finance in HRPL and is an active social worker. She works at the grass-root level for the welfare of the Anglo-Indian community, besides being involved in other meaningful social service projects. They have three daughters.