Born a lonely, only child Andreas Antoniou was determined to have a large family and put them first. The rewards have been tremendous
TO SOME Andreas Antoniou was an accountant for a property company. To others he was the UK’s top salesman of the year when he worked at Dun and Bradstreet. To dozens of pensioners he was the director of an old people’s home.
And to some he’s even known as the English Cypriot man who dabbles in farming on his sprawling Dhali estate.
More recently he’s also acknowledged for his maintenance and sanitary fittings expertise.
So who is this Jack of All Trades? This man who can do anything as long as he puts his mind to it?
According to his six children, he’s quite simply the world’s best father.
His eldest, Eleni, will tell you how her ‘daddy’ gave up his six figure London salary to spend more time with her and her five other siblings when they were growing up.
“How many people do you know who do that?” she says proudly.
Honestly? None.
Antoniou, who turns 60 this July, is definitely a man who adores his family, starting from his wife Maro right down to his identical twins Christos and Kyriakos.
Five minutes in his company and it becomes apparent that unlike a lot of men, Antoniou is happiest at home, surrounded by lots of noise and the patter of children’s feet.
“I wouldn’t change any of it. Looking back it’s been brilliant. Having six children makes for a perfect family unit. To some it’s nerve wracking having just two children, so it’s
obviously not for everyone, but for me it’s been the most fulfilling experience,” he said.
Born and bred in London as an only child, Antoniou always wanted a big family.
“I have a half sister who is 14 or 15 years older than me and I hardly saw her growing up, so I wanted to have more that one child. I thought three was a good number,” he said.
At the age of 30 he was introduced to his wife Maro. Less than six months later the couple were married and well on the way to starting the family they’d both always dreamed of having.
At the time Antoniou was working as an accountant for a property company collecting rents. Although he never qualified as an accountant he was able to earn a six figure salary thanks to his skilful ability to secure monies owed to the company. In 1980 he was headhunted by Dun and Bradstreet, where he worked as a salesman.
A year later his firstborn, Eleni, came into the world. Her birth was followed by Emilia, 25, and Antonis, 20.
“We’d had three children and I thought that was it,” he said.
By the time his son was born, Antoniou had changed careers and he and Maro were running an old people’s home in Croydon.
“It was this huge rambling house in the heart of Croydon which I had done up,” he said.
This was the third house the 60-year-old had refurbished. In 1979 his passion for fixing up houses, including doing all the rewiring and plumbing, was born with his first home purchase. He later bought and sold five houses for a profit before moving to Cyprus in 1989.
“I came to the conclusion that if you’re going to spend half your life working you’ve got to enjoy it. I try and instil this in my kids. My parents wanted the best for me. They wanted me to be a doctor, or an accountant, or a lawyer. [But] if you don’t have it in you, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure,” he added.
Once in Cyprus, an opportunity came up to buy 14 skales of land in Dhali which he seized. Nineteen years later and he’s still here and happier than ever.
In fact the last set of three children were born in Cyprus, starting with Panayioti in 1993 and the twins in 1995.
Antoniou’s life today is very different to the one he used to lead before the family’s move to Cyprus. Now instead of pulling on a suit and getting ready to work 9 to 5, he’s up at 5.30am to feed the chicken, sheep, dogs and donkey before taking the kids to school. He then comes home in time to have breakfast with his wife, who’s been up half the night marking papers for the students she gives private English lessons to in the afternoon, before heading off for work himself. By early afternoon he’s home in time to spend what’s left of the day with five of the six children still living at home.
Christmas and birthdays are particularly joyous events, especially now when on top of his own six kids, two sons-in-law and a grandson have joined the boisterous clan.
“We have our own routine and sing Christmas carols. It’s really special,” he said.
Asked if loves all his children the same, he doesn’t pause for a second.
“Yes,” he said. “Some people thought I’d love the boys more, but I’m not a bigot like that. I didn’t need to have sons to carry on my name or anything like that. In fact I always wanted to have girls first and then a boy and it worked out that way,” he said.
The 60-year-old admitted that with six children you needed two things: a sense of humour and good finances. The latter was particularly important as children needed a lot of money for their upkeep.
He also said a good mother was the most important thing.
“I wouldn’t advise someone to have six kids because you need to be an exceptionally good mother. Their mother is exceptional. I’m so-so but she really is exceptional. She’s a qualified English language teacher, a perfect cook, a perfect mum. She can adapt herself to anything,” he says of Maro proudly.
As an only child people thought he’d want to be a hermit, but instead Antoniou enjoys a full house.
He said he could still remember getting off school and going home to an empty, dark house at around 4pm in England.
“There was no light, no noise, nothing,” he said.
“It can be hard in the morning trying to get them all ready for school and out the door, but otherwise it’s fun. There’s always something going on at home. It’s like a train station,” he laughs.
Despite the 14 years between Eleni and the two little ones, Antoniou said they were all very connected and still operated as a unit.
“On a Sunday I’ll ask Maro if Eleni and Kypro (his future son-in-law) are coming round. I then get her to ring them so that they come over for lunch and we’re all together,” he said.
Antoniou said he had always been a bit of a homebody.
“I used to get ready to go out, even when I was single, and then change my mind and just stay in. I liked being at home,” he said.
The father of six admits that weekends are his favourite time because it’s when the whole family come together and share in the laughter and joy that has got them all through the years. As he himself said, having this family of his has certainly made his life feel so much more worthwhile.
“It feels truly fulfilling that I have this fantastic family. I would do nothing to change it,” he said.
