High commissioner’s replacement dies suddenly

BRITISH diplomat John Martin, who was to replace David Madden as Britain’s High Commissioner to Cyprus in March, has died suddenly.

“It is with great sadness that the British High Commission has to announce the death of John Martin on January 5, after a short illness,” the High Commission in Nicosia said in a brief statement yesterday.

Martin – who was 54 when he died – was posted to Cyprus between 1978 and 1982, when he was head of the High Commission’s political section.

A fluent Greek speaker, Martin had served at the British Embassy in Athens from 1970 to 1974. The career diplomat also served in Lagos and New York. His last posting, which he took up in 1993, was as British High Commissioner to Lilongwe, Malawi.

Martin was married with three sons, one of them only 10.

A British diplomat said yesterday that following Martin’s death, Madden would be staying on as High Commissioner till the end of March. Madden’s next posting is as Britain’s Ambassador to Athens.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.