JAMES BOND’S latest onscreen nemesis in the recent Quantum of Solace just so happens to be a dark and dashingly handsome Cypriot bloke who goes by the name of Simon Kassianides.
Guinness World Record holder as Britain’s top-selling author of the 1990s, David Hessayon, is a man who remembers helping his watchmaker father keep his memories of Cyprus alive with tales of days gone by. And this is just the start of a long list of Greek Cypriots abroad who have made it big outside their homeland.
With the lives of approximately 2,000 Greek Cypriots living abroad profiled in a new book compiled by London Cypriot, Michael Yiakoumis, Greek Cypriots Worldwide is a new release that offers a snapshot of the successful Cypriot community abroad.
Following on from the success of Greek Cypriots in the UK published in 2006, this Greek Cypriots Worldwide includes details on the lives of high achievers within all sorts of professions; some have left their mark in politics and business, others in sports and the arts.
The 54-year-old author of the book currently living in London’s Islington district is a former contributor to Pariaki, the newspaper for the Cypriot community in London. “I really wanted to see what Greek Cypriots have achieved outside Cyprus so I started off with the UK edition and it proved a big success,” explains Yiakoumis.
“But then I realised there was a huge demand for a worldwide edition that couldn’t be ignored. So I took up the project full time and now Cypriots all over the globe are very excited about the book – it’s also become quite a useful networking tool.”
There is an estimated 600,000 people in the Greek Cypriot diaspora, with the majority residing in the UK, US and Australia. The new book outlines what towns and villages each Cypriot originates from, with individual profiles accompanied by a picture.
It took Yiakoumis three years to complete the work as he jetted to all four corners of the globe to attend Cypriot festivals and meet prominent personalities. Names and profiles for the ambitious work also came flooding in by post and email.
“I was surprised to see just how many highly respected doctors there are, especially heart surgeons,” he says. “Then there are important politicians that I met along the way like the Governor of Florida, Charlie Christ.”
Lord Adonis, meanwhile, is a member of the British cabinet, appointed Minister of State for Transport of 2008. Minister of Health in Canada, Tony Clement, is also a Cypriot.
There were also plenty of other surprises that made for brilliant new additions to the updated book. “I was really impressed by Stanley (Stellianos) Christodoulou, a world boxing referee who lives in South Africa. I couldn’t believe he refereed one of the biggest ever fights between Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran.” Born in Johannesburg, Chrystodoulous’ mother was from Paphos and his father from Evrichou. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004, he has been an international boxing referee for 44 years.
Other Cypriot sporting personalities include Ivan Gazides, chief executive of Arsenal Football Club.
The book also features household names such as singer George Michael and Peter Andre, easyJet founder and international entrepreneur Stelios Hadji-Ioannou, and clinical psychologist enjoying celebrity status, Linda Papadopoulos.
Most Cypriot women abroad have excelled in the field of media and communications with UK-based Jasmine Harman famous as the presenter of Home in the Sun and the US-based Marina Sirtis most noted for playing the half human/half Betazoid counsellor Deanna Troi on the television and film series, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
As similarities and contrasts between Greek Cypriot communities were drawn post research, Yiakoumis found that the sizeable Greek mainland communities in the US and Canada heavily influence the smaller Greek Cypriot communities providing them with a distinct Hellenic outlook.
In Australia, Britain and South Africa, however, the Cypriot communities have been large enough to sustain their own distinct identity without significant influence from the mainland Hellenic communities. The spirit is kept alive through Greek Cypriot festivals, community centres and churches.
Britain is home to the largest congregation of Greek Cypriots outside Cyprus with a community of 350,000. While Greek Cypriots in the UK started life in the clothing and catering trades in the 1950s, their children and grandchildren are mostly very well educated and are now flourishing in many professions.
“It’s quite amazing when you think that most Cypriots left the country for economic reasons and were extremely sad to leave their homeland,” says Yiakoumis. “All of us abroad have certainly come a long way since then.”
Greek Cypriots Worldwide is available at all good bookshops island-wide for €25. More details about the book can be found online at www.greekcypriotsworldwide.com
