About & Contact
Tom at Lake Ohrid on the Via Egnatia, 2009
My name is Tom Sawford and I live in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England.
I first became aware of Paddy quite late in life; I guess he is an acquired taste. Maybe you need to have some awareness of the broad range of subject matter that he can, often without warning, cover in his books. Perhaps it is only after formal education, reading widely, developing a broad appreciation for history, and just plain living that you have the ability to grasp some of what he is getting at. A strongly developed vocabulary is also a boon; or at least a dictionary and of course now with access to Google it is possible to quickly research some of the more obscure topics that Paddy assumes mere mortals will be aware of. I remember the first time I read A Time of Gifts and being amused that Paddy clearly expected his readers to have at least a schoolboy/girl grasp of Latin as phrases pour out with no explanation or translation.
But surely that is the attraction of his work. It aims for the highest pinnacles of linguistic and intellectual endeavour and if you like what you read it drags you along with it, drinking from the cup of knowledge that Paddy offers.
He is of course so much more than a writer. It has been said that he is the ‘greatest English travel writer’. I don’t agree with that. I believe he travels to write, having so much more to say than to merely discuss the merits of one hotel over another or the quality of food in Greek fishing villages. In my view he is the Greatest Living Englishman. Not that we don’t have other great Englishman (but perhaps less than we once had), but more than that he is that unique person who personifies what was once the mark of an Englishman; educated; heroic, handsome, generous; and modest (to a degree).
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor DSO OBE has lived a full life, and has had experiences that few others will likely ever have again. He had lived a pretty full life before the second world war, even living with a Romanian princess who was older than he, and during that conflict he applied his skills to fighting behind German lines, and was unique in achieving the capture, with “Billy” Moss, of the German Garrison Commander of Crete, Major General Kreipe. After the war he travelled, wrote, married, developed long-lasting friendships, built a house in Greece and continues to write to this day. My epithet stands because few can match what he has done and also the manner in which he did it.
The purpose of my blog is to bring the life and work of Paddy, and his many colleagues to the attention of a wider audience, and to create an archive of on-line material that can be used for research. He and his friends deserve to be recognised and remembered in a world that has changed much during their lives, but would be the poorer without them.
If you would like to help with the blog, contribute an article or anything else, please contact me tsawford[at]btinternet.com or mobile +44 (0) 7774 929609
Please visit my other blog on the subject of Byzantium; it too is full of interesting articles and photographs of beautiful Byzantine art from our travels.
Tom Sawford
April 2010
Oh wonderful! I’m very pleased to find your blog!
I became aware of PLF a few years ago, while doing historical research about something else entirely. He popped up in the middle of “Crete: The Battle and the Resistance” by Antony Beevor, as an astonishing figure. It was a little like watching the Lone Ranger ride down Main Street: he was impossibly daring, impossibly dashing, an impossibly romantic figure — and real.
I’ve been reading his books and keeping an eye out for information about him ever since.
Yvonne – so nice of you to say. He is a true romantic hero. There is so much more I need to do with this blog. A lot of information to add!
Any idea if Paddy has been working on finishing his walking trilogy?
We believe he has. See William Dalrymple link on the blog and also indications in the book ‘In Tearing Haste’ and other references on the blog. Do a search for Vol 3 (or Vol Three). This may not be published until after his death. Certainly the biography written by Artemis Cooper will not be published before then.
So pleased to happen upon your blog. Seems we are faraway contemporaries Tom, my husband Ted and I, Americans, share your 1985 wedding year. I have just ordered most of Leigh Fermor’s books it seems. I had never heard of him (can you believe) until I read Ann Vanderhoof’s “Spice Necklace”, in which she mentions “Traveller’s Tree”. And so it always happens, one good read leads to many others. A question–did he have any children? I see no mention anywhere, thanks so much,
Dawn
Hi Dawn, thanks for the nice comments. Yep, 1985 was a good year for many reasons! The answer to your question is no. Paddy and Joan did not have children. He seems to have been happy enough in the company of children – some references in ‘In Tearing Haste’ – and of course he was god-father to a Cretan girl during his time fighting with the resistance (the girl’s father became Paddy’s ‘god-brother’, and was captured and then killed by the Germans as he tried to escape), but I think it fair to say that many of his friends appear not to have had many children either. I will leave it for others to speculate on the possible reasons why.
I hope that the blog continues to hold your interest.
Tom
Thanks for the reply Tom, I was up late reading Isabella Bird’s account of her time in the American Rockies, oh the joy of a good travelogue! Will definitely look forward to the posts and the reading of Fermor.
Two things:
First, my girlfriend is from Fleet. Her parents presently live in Crondell, her brother in Basingstoke. I love the area. We live in Austin, Texas.
Second, a silly question: Any news on the status of the final volume of Fermor’s 1930s trek across Europe?
Thanks.
I guess its greener here than in Texas. It is a small world huh?
I guess you have found Vol 3 updates. Use the site search and input “volume 3″ or “volume 3″ to find more. Basically it seems we may have to wait until until Paddy is no longer with us. However, as Artemis Cooper is writing his biography which will certainly only be published after his death, I have a feeling that if Paddy can get it ready Vol 3 could still be published in his lifetime. We shall see.
Thanks for getting touch.
Hi Tom,
Thank you very much for this:I have been an ardent fan since A Time of Gifts, when, being an inveterate reader of travel books, I read it and was blown away:it became a mainstay during my years in the UK(70′s-90′s) until it joined Between Woods and Water. PLF’s language and brilliance enthralled me, and then I discovered his SOE WWII exploits. He is among a vanishing breed of Englishman, of the ilk of Thesiger, etal. I say “man”but there have been extraordinary English women as well of course, such as Freya Stark, Gertrude Bell etc. PLF belongs firmly for me in that canon, so having a blog where his life and work is celebrated, is very much a bonus. Plus of course, all his contemporaries in SOE and elsewhere. I met Artemis Cooper earlier this year at the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka, and she talked of PFL and the third volume.I wish I had asked her more questions! I’ve just read Justin Marouzzi’s chapter on meeting PLF in Greece in “Travels with Herodotus”-another delight, highly recommended. Cheers
Thanks for the nice comments. I understand Artemis was speaking about working with Paddy at the Galle festival.
Tom
What you say about appreciating Leigh Fermor with age and education is on the money. I did not get it at all when younger. What worries me (halfway through re-reading Between the Woods and the Water and planning to go to Transylvania next year) is that there will be no one left who can understand his references at all in the next generation. I know my own daughter, well educated enough and at university, would struggle.
I know what you mean and despair. My own daughter thought that because “Stockholm” was on the side of a shopping bag that it must be somewhere in London!
Mr. Crawford,
How would I address a letter or email to Mr. Fermor? I feel it important to send a note of appreciation while he is still with us.
Thank you VERY much for your efforts.
You could write via his publisher, John Murray of London, http://www.johnmurray.co.uk/Contact-Us.htm , or address a letter to Patrick Leigh Fermor, Kardamyli, Messinia, Greece.
Thank you for your comments. It is appreciated.
Tom
Tom, I am very pleased to have found your blog
While travelling in the Mani a few years ago, along the beautiful Messinian coast, we passed the village of Kardamyli from where we hiked into some of the rugged gorges of the Taygetus mountain range. Not surprisingly, it was here that I first heard about Patrick Leigh Fermor. In Holland I found that his books were not available in the bookstores, so I ordered the books on the internet from New York Review. Now I am re-reading his book ‘Mani’ for the second time, and discover that there new things and insights that I apparently missed in my first reading. The combination of his immense historical knowledge, his linguistic skill, his adventurous and quite human spirit, and his awesome erudition is really unique and, as I am not a native English speaker, quite challenging for me.
PLF is a perfect travel companion, and for that I am most grateful.
Frans
Frans – glad you enjoy the blog. I have to say Paddy’s work can be pretty challenging even for native English speakers!
Great to discover your blog. I discovered Leigh Fermor’s books on my parents’ bookshelves as a teenager, and devoured them (obviously starting with A Time of Gifts) and made immediate plans for my own voyage on-foot… which I have yet to undertake. At 35 I still reread his books regularly. Good to discover I’m not alone. Thanks for your endeavours.
while rereading Between the Woods and the Water I decided to google “Leigh Fermor” and found your blog which is truly wonderful for a long-time admirer…
Once in 1991 I was down at the sea below his dwelling and I stayed for a while wondering if I would have to nerve to walk up the hill and try to meet him. But I decided against this and followed my own happy trail further down the coast and eventually through Gythio via Kythera to my beloved Crete….
Willem van Mourik, Delft The Netherlands, december 30th 2010
I’m not qualified to judge whether PLF is our ‘greatest living Englishman’, but he was certainly the grumpiest-looking one I had ever come across when I sunbathed on the beach beneath his home some years ago! For years, my old buddy John Craxton had been encouraging me to get in touch with him, on the basis I suppose that the old chap would enjoy the company of a youngish, gay Welsh/Scots artist with literary inclinations. I’d never bothered. Then, having explored the Byzantine churches in the Mani with other friends, I decided to hole up with my Dutch partner in Kardamyli for a week or two. There were only 2 taxis from Kalamata the day we arrived; Debo and Duke were in the first, we in the second. I dropped PLF a pc to say we were in town. No reply forthcoming, so wrote it off. However, taking the sun on ‘that’ beach, we found ourselves lying a few metres from a perfectly nice German couple also sunbathing, but nude. Sometime during the day, an old bloke whom I guessed was ‘himself’ came stroling along above the beach, shaking his stick and growling at the German pair – and us, I suppose. We were, you see, on HIS beach. (All Greek beaches are public as you proabably know!). I bit my tongue and ignored the old curmudgeon. Wish I’d not now. I’m afraid I’m antipathetic to the whole PLF/aristo incestuous snob thing (no reflection on his writings). It reeks of the you scratch my back/I’ll yours endemic in UK cultural life. At the moment, a friend’s daughter, Artemis Cooper, is writing his bio. I believe. Which says it all, doesn’t it? Anyway… yours in tearing haste! Andrew.
Andrew – the beach clearly is very public, but it is also NOT a nudist beach, so if it was Paddy, he was probably right to say something. I am sure you have met grumpier old men!
You may know more about the Artemis connection than I, but she has been a friend of Paddy’s for many years. Recognising his advancing years he selected her to be his ‘literary executor’ and asked her to write his official biography. I thought it was quite common for subjects to select/approve their official biographers. Not so much back-scratching as prudent selection? Do such things only happen in the UK? Even so we have one of the most dynamic cultural environments in the world so it does not appear to be doing too much harm.
Tom
“I’m afraid I’m antipathetic to the whole PLF/aristo incestuous snob thing”?
I am surprised that the incident you describe on a public Greek beach has upset you – so much so, that it left you with a rather low opinion of PLF as a person (“no reflection on his writings”) and that it prompted you to extend your derogatory comment to the despicable social class you assume he belongs to.
Whether you agree with it or not, the simple fact is that nude sunbathing on a public beach is NOT the socially or culturally accepted norm or convention anywhere, not in Greece or, for that matter, in liberal-minded Holland, where I live.
The assumption that this is not the case and to behave accordingly, shows a surprising lack of sensitivity to local custom and this may cause irritation by members of that local community, with or without shaking a stick.
Having travelled extensively in my life I can say this: A traveler when visiting a foreign community should behave like a guest, he should be specially aware of local customs and sensitivities, and not insist on his private preferences or narrow perspective.
Frans Horbach
Very well said Frans.
I have enjoyed the articles very much; PLF is a great man and a great writer. I missed Benedict Allen’s BBC programme. Any ideas as to where it can be found/downloaded?
Well done Tom.
John Thomson
John – I am almost certain that the programme is not available for download anywhere. I do have a copy which a friend obtained via the production company. I can only suggest that you approach them (I can’t remember the name of the company at the moment) as your best option.
Tom
Hello Tom,
Happy New Year!
Quick question: are you aware of anyone having documented the route that Paddy took during “A Time Of Gifts?” I’m thinking more of a map or at least something approximating a route.
Many thanks
Henry
In response to your comment Tom, and to Mr. Horbach’s… re. the nude subathing incident: I like nude subathing, but would never dream of doing it in Greece of all places. And didn’t on that occasion. I remember thinking at the time that it would have been more polite of PLF had he quietly reminded the German couple of the rules rather than growling and waving his stick about. I’m big on politeness, and I don’t care who you are! re. the biography: Artemis is a delightful person and her Mum is heavenly. She is also a good writer, as is her husband. But she is very much ‘top drawer’, and I can well imagine PLF wanting her rather than any old Tom, Dick or Harry to write about him. Sometimes class solidarity is a good thing, sometimes not. We shall see! Oh Tom! Please think hard before crediting the UK with being one of ‘the most dynamic cultural environments in the world’. This is Radio 4 ‘Any Questions’-speak: The BBC is the best broadcaster IN THE WORLD (round of applause), the NHS is the best medical service IN THE WORLD (ditto)… blah, blah. I would say that Britain has one of the most dynamic LITERARY cultures in the western world, and so SHOULD the land that produced Shakespeare! ‘Liberal- minded Holland’, Mr. Horbach, is yet another nationalistic cliche. Having spent holidays with your royal family among others, I can only say that I have never come across such latent racism and snobbery (heavily-weiled though it is). Holland also suffers from a sad and malignant case of Anglophilia, for which I suppose we can blame William of Orange and/or the Nazis if we wish to be generous.
I would certainly say that Radio 4 remains the best radio station in the world. The BBC has lost its way in general.
Grow up and stop whining.
Splendid work you do ! Thank you.
Laura Gutanu
Romania
I was delighted to find your web page. Thank you for your efforts. I agreed with your comments on the challenge that reading his work gives you . It is a pleasure . Like you I am sorry to have discovered him late in my life. His work led me to read George Psychoundakis -the Cretan Runner. I don’t know if he is featured in your pages . The fact that PLF organised the printing of this book shows his loyalty and warm heart amongst all his other qualities.
Denny – thanks. Search (box near top right) the site for George Psychoundakis. There is quite a bit about him.
just wanted to thank you for this blog. i found paddy through a friend a few summers ago. we loved reading _a time of gifts_ together then on to almost all of his books from there including the letters between he and debo. he is a gorgeous writer and person that i admire and feel a kinship with. this blog truly helps me stay current and must take a ton of work from you. kudos and thank you again!
Thanks Heather. It is always appreciated. I have a ton more of things to add, but time is the enemy. Don’t forget to subscribe (top right of blog) so you can get the updates (nothing more) by email!
Tom
Paddy’s so called “beach” (the one that his staircase leads down to) is a rocky/pebble cove (no sand )about 10 meters across and is only accessible to the public by boat. He is a long time close family friend, and I have known him to be more than accomodating to all his fans. Zi I Kriti.
PETER
I got a sign-up URL. Fine, but I already am listed.
My previous post was to inform that I had found an article PF and thought the group would to see it posted or at least given access to it;
Very glad to have discovered this! A PLF blog is an inspired idea. All those worried about the cost of higher education ought to take comfort from the fact that one of our greatest living intellectuals never went near a university.
This is an excellent idea for a blog. I’ve always felt that, whilst PLF has a very large number of admirers, it can be maddeningly difficult to find a single source of information about the great man.
I first read ‘A Time of Gifts’ when I was 19, the same age as the character Paddy (who I think may be a slightly fictionalized version of PLF himself, there is much to suggest that the book is intended to be about youth as well as about a very remarkable specific youth). For this reason, I’m not sure that I agree with what others here have said about it being best to come to PLF’s works in one’s later years. Enthusiasm is the great leitmotif in all of his works, and enthusiasm is very often a virtue of the young, although the years do not seem to have dampened Paddy’s. Of course his eruditions is daunting, even for those of us who fancy ourselves well educated in history and classics, but that is rather the point. I do imagine, however, that one probably gets something different out of his works depending on the stage of life in which one reads them (is this not true of all great literature?), and I look forward to re-reading them in my later years (I should perhaps point out that I am now only twenty-one, and thus have spent only three years of my life in the company of PLF’s works).
What a great find and what a great idea for a blog dedicated to PLF!
I first read A Time of Gifts in my early thirties and was enthralled – I have devoured everything by the great man since and have re-read almost all of them as well.
Upon finishing A Time of Gifts for the first time I was struck by the feeling “that book has improved me as a person” and Paddy’s works always have that effect – quite uncanny and very rare- for me at least. The only other authors who have done that for me are Carl Sagan and Bruce Chatwin (fittingly enough).
A huge thank you for the blog and your hard work in setting it up and maintaining it.
BB
Tom – Am delighted to find your blog. I discovered PLF in the 1980′s when my son was awarded an IRSEP scholarship to study Magyar history and language in Budapest. It peaked my curiosity and delving into any thing I could find about Hungary “happened upon” Between the Woods and Water and A Time of Gifts. What treasures! Could we all be blessed with such enthusiasm, curiousity and knowledge. All this from a young man who didn’t “fit the mold” – thank goodness.
More serendipity. Like you, I am reading Miklos Banffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy, which I found because PLF wrote the introduction. Wonderful writing. I too feel there is much that is autobiographical. I wish I had discovered them before I visited Transylvania in 97′. Perhaps I will have another opportunity. I am a very ordinary 70 year old person living in an unincorporated (rural) village in WI USA. These books have truly enriched me. Looking forward to more blogs. Thanks.
Kathleen – what a pleasure to read how you discovered Paddy. I am near the end of Vol 2 of Banffy and enjoying it so much. You may have read that I am lucky enough to visit Koloszvar (Cluj) quite regularly. I think the radical in Paddy would also like to live in an “unincorporated” village; it sounds suitably non-conformist Happy reading. Tom
A question for Mr. Andrew Gibbon-Williams; you write: “would enjoy the company of a youngish, gay Welsh/Scots artist with literary inclinations”. I wonder why you stress being gay, is there a particular reason in your opinion why PLF would enjoy the company of a gay man more than a not gay man?
Have you traced PLF’s steps in Between Woods and the Water? I wonder what is left of the families ?
\Mary Bethune
Mary Lou – no I have not. There was a plan for a few of us to do so this year in fact. But that fell through. Maybe still a chance to do something later this year. Are you interested? Many of the families were scattered by the war and communism. Most of the country houses either in disrepair or used as asylums and so forth. I plan to do some exploring around Cluj later this year, but more in the steps of Banffy, rather than Paddy. Enjoy the blog!
Tom, being born in Romania, my father Greek and my mother Swiss, please let me tell you that Romania is much more than only Transilvania and Cluj. Please go to Maramures, Moldova, Dobrogea, even the mocked Oltenia has so much to offer, as well as the Regat. It has so much and such a variety to offer (landscape as well as linguistically – accents and influences), let alone History which was primordial for the sake of western Europe. We were all distroied by the communism. Here one video about one of the Cantacuzino estate in Moldova. You wont understand the language (by the way, the accent is very slavic) but pictures talk strongly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R907uyDfUkc
The family sold it in 1920 to a german count. The commies took over and he probably had to leave it behind. During communism it was an old age home, a kindergarden and many more the commies used it for. Then it was abandonned for ever. Now the commission tries to restaure it before it’s only a pile of building materials left over of it. Vandals stole everything, even some bricks for building their own houses. The park is filled with 250 years old rare trees – natural monuments they will be declared. They want to declare the entire place as historical site! But they cannot restaure the furniture…, no one knows where it is, it has been stolen.
Sad matter of facts.
Thank you for this beautiful blog.
Alexandra Costide (Switzerland)
Alexandra – yes I am truly aware of the many wonders of Romania. The problem is when I go on business I visit Cluj and have only once been out of the city to visit Banffy’s castle at Bontida. So my experience is only of Cluj which is wonderful but I recognise limited.. This summer we plan to visit the Maramures, and then travel down to the Saxon lands in the Carpathians so I shall see a lot more. I intend to travel more widely, certainly to the monasteries in the Bukovina, but also possibly trying to map the Greenway walking route in the vicinity of Sighisoara next year. Are you a walker?
Tell me about the movie … this is not Balsha’s estate is it? I don’t thin it is. It is very interesting. Thank you.
Tom
Tom,
Thank you for starting and keeping this blog. I’m so glad to have come across it. I’ve been reading practically everything I can get my hands on – by or about PLF. As many here have said already, I believe he is an extraordinary individual; larger than life.
I developed an interest in “modern Greek history” about 10 years ago. I had been a student of the classics in my youth (early 80′s). But my classics professor at BU (Athan Anagnostopulos – another great man) made me aware of the lineage and linkage that existed between the Ancient and Modern. It took me a few years, but I gradually became more and more interested in the veiled times of the Ottoman occupation, which eventually took me forward to the Second World War.
I was astonished to learn about the amazing group of individuals that came together in Crete during that time, and Fermor was, to my mind, the shining star among many gems on that scene. As horrid and painful as that war was, there was a fortunate set of circumstances – the English raiding and recruiting their Universities’ Classics departments and a few literate and articulte Cretans, all of whom were inclined to record their experiences, making it possible for us to assimilate a 3D view of the time. As Hollywood brings us remakes of bad to mediocre originals, here’s this remarkable time which contains countless stories; at once clever, heroic, funny and tragic.
I found it interesting that you think of PLF as the “greatest living Englishman”, because I place him in the pantheon of fascinating individuals that have appeared on this planet. The fact that he is still alive and writing is amazing. I think we’re extremely fortunate to have him among us still. I was in southern Greece in 2009 and spent a couple of days in Mani. Little did I know (and probably very fortunate for him) that he he lived nearby.
I wish you all the best with the blog and will be checking in frequently.
George – thank you for your compliments and sharing your insight. Do subscribe (top right on blog) to the blog and you will never miss a post! Battle of Crete anniversary coming up soon.
tom
not sure if you have seen this.
from 32 min onwards…..talk of ‘in tearing haste’
george
Thanks George – we did a piece on it recently – should still be on the homepage, but always worth a listen
Hi Tom,
I have to agree with the majority of comments on this page, your blog is easily the best source for information on the great man. As a result of the current economic climate, it seems I will soon have a lot of time on my hands and perhaps the perfect opportunity (blessing in disguise?) to follow in Patrick’s footsteps. Are you (or other readers) aware of any maps or guides that outline the route taken by Patrick on his way through Europe? I probably shouldn’t be lazy and just re-read ‘A Time of Gifts’ but I don’t want to waste time if it has been done already.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
Martin
Martin – in a sense you are fortunate if you suddenly have the time to devote to following the route. I once made a rough calculation that it may be possible to walk this in 4-6 months if you go all the way to Istanbul.
I will mail you some informatiion I have for Romania.
Tom
Martin – How goes it? I hope in fact that you have been unable to do the walking as at least you may stil have a job! I am in contact with a guy called Nick Hunt who plans to walk the whole route this year. Get in touch with him as he now has quite a lot of route info http://afterthewoodsandthewater.wordpress.com/
Tom
Very sad to hear of the death of Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Is there ANY chance that a third volume taking us from the Iron Gates to Constantinople will be found amongst his papers?
Michael – I am sure something substantial exists. Let’s see. We shall hear more in the coming weeks I am sure.
Tom, many thanks for this excellent blog – a true labour of love. I have been browsing here with increasing interest since I heard the news of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s death, and have linked here from my own blog. I posted a brief piece – necessarily so, for all that needs to be said (and more) is already here.
Thank you once more.
Tom,
Any idea what the working title for vol.3 might be?
I wonder whether Paddy had a title in mind ?
I’ve often thought about what the title might be.
Such as; The Walk Ends; To The City; Arrival In Paradise.
Any thoughts from you or other members of the blog?
I love to hear what others might think the title might be.
George
How do I upload a photograph to your site? My wife and I hired a boat and sailed up the gulf from Stoupa to Kardamyli in the summer of 2000. I took a shot of Paddy’s villa from the boat and would never have published it during his life, too intrusive but I would like to do so now.
Regards Howard Patrick
Patrick – replied by email to you. Just as easy to mail me the picture and I will post with acknowledgement.
Tom
Hi Tom, can you please post this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zlUhJwddFU&feature=player_embedded
Great find Erik – yes I will schedule it for tomorrow. Thank you!
Tom
Yes, its very nice, also funny to hear that his Greek has a very strong English accent, but also a Cretan one!
Many, many thanks for your blog. It is wonderful to have all the material assembled. He is/was the greatest living Englishman…
The BBC aren’t left wing – they’re sloppy. Their obituaries are universally bad. They never check their facts and they haven’t heard of anyone over the age of forty. Nothing to do with left-wing.
What the BBC have done is to provide wall to wall propaganda for the present government, the forces, and the nuclear industry (who they are currently supporting with a voluntary news blackout on Japan).
It was damn stupid of you to attempt a political quip in your email.
You may think it damned stupid, but the BBC clearly suffers from selective reporting and I am not alone in my views about the political stance of the BBC. It is the BBC you should complain to about politics.
In Paddy’s case they have failed him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/opinion/15Kaplan.html
Hello Tom,
There was a translation in the Cretan newspaper, Patris, of a lovely piece written by Patrick Leigh Fermor for the Sunday Times which was published in that paper on 22 and 29 November 1956. Although I enjoyed the article in Greek, Patrick’s superb handling of the English language was missing. Any chance of getting the English version published here?
The link for the Patris translation is:
http://www.patris.gr/articles/202996/
So happy to find your blog, but so sad that Paddy has passed away. I always wanted to meet him and regret I never made the effort. I am of Greek descent, half from Mani and half from Crete. My family has a monastery not far from where Paddy lived in Mani, in Neo Itilo, and he mentioned my family in his book on Mani. I am sure he knew more history about Mani than anyone and it is not easy to come by. And I had no idea how involved he was with the Cretan resistance.
Dear Tom, here is a link to a clip of one of Paddy’s favourite songs, the Cretan folk song Filedem (‘Friend Adam’ in Turkish).
As Paterakis recalls on camera during the 1972 reunion, Paddy liked the song so much that his comrades started calling him Filedem as a nickname. Perhaps some people would like to hear it?
Greetings Tom,
I have several pictures and many videos of Paddy. I’d like to share them with all. How do I get them to you?
Peter Misthos
Thank you so much for constructing this blog. PLF is a huge fascination of mine, it was wonderful to find this while searching for obituaries I hadn’t yet read after his passing.
What a treasure house of material, again I thank you for the time you’ve spent building this resource for those of us who love the prose of this great, mourned writer.
Hi Tom, I dont know why I cant reply on your reply to me
, no reply button there. No the video I posted is not Balasha’s estate. As we know her estate was in Baleni in the County of Galati, somewhere in the middle of the county to the north. The estate in my video belonged to another family member and is somewhere in northern Moldova-Bukovina. I am not a walker, I am too lazy 
but intend to go next year with a friend, great fan of Paddy’s, and we will probably tour the entire country, definitely going to Baleni (though Balasha’s house doesnt exist anymore) and also definitely going to the monasteries in the Bukovina which I didnt see myself during my 33 years there. Would like to show him the Maramures and the Dobrogea too. We will need a car for this in a rather short time we have available.Then I want also to go back to Braila and Galati where my father’s family is from. And of course The Iron Gates and Bucharest too. Will be a rather rushing through, but… 
and we need to plan it very very cleverly. Romania is still an oasis in Europe with wonderful untouched landscape. For how long?
Good night and thank you for answering to my comment
Alexandra
This is an excellent site that you have created and maintain here. I’m a huge fan of the man, and sometimes write about him – usually referring people back to this site to learn more.
Do you know the latest on the mythical much sought after third volume of his walk from Holland to Turkey?
Paul – I think we will have Artemis’ biography next year, maybe for Christmas, then I think they will be able to get to work on editing the draft of Vol 3. I doubt we will see it before end of 2013. Just my view.
That’s interesting to hear. I look forward to them both.
A Huge Thank You Tom….love your site…and Paddy, of course. I am having no success with loading the movie where Paddy talks about his home….right at the top of the list. Just wondering if it is me or something else? Yours, Sheryl Allen
Sheryl – thanks for pointing out this issue. It is not you. There must be a technical fault on the host server. Hopefully it will be repaired. Maybe the greeks just ran out of money?
Tom
Sheryl – try now. It should all be working.
Dear Tom,
Would you be interested in a translation into English of the article in Spanish by the Marques de Tamaron? I am not an official translator, yet I might give it a try. Please let me know.
Peter Bruns
Hi Tom,
Not sure if you aware but there is a documentary covering the capture of General Kreipe on National Geographic channel this Wednesday at 07.00pm. The program is called ‘Capturing Hitlers Henchmen’ – the Kreipe story is the second half of the program.
Thanks for the great site – keep it up.
Daniel Smith
I am enchanted by your blog as I have been reading the books of Patrick Leigh Fermor.
I have just received and signed this petition that I thought you might want to sign as well.
Cheers
Catherine Girardeau Willis
Thank you so much for this blog Tom – it is fascinating and providing SO MUCH! Not sure I’m even ‘meant’ to be on this blog or if it is private, but Catherine I have signed your petition which I think is So worthwhile and would like to put it onto Facebook to spread the word – complete luddite that I am on blogs, facebook, twitter et al, I may not succeed but I hope you approve.
Arabella – I think the petition is by Catherine Willis, but do please go ahead! The blog certainly is not private and if you have Fermor in your name you are especially welcome
)
http://save-south-crete.eu/index.php/whats-it-about.html
Very interesting. I am writing about Paddy in my blogsite http://www.historyandmore.net. I have set myself the challenge of explaining and defining every social group listed in Paddy’s famous list at the beginning of Mani. I didn’t start quite at the beginning, but about ten lines, or thirty proper nouns in, but have now settled down to a steady stride. It should take me about two months. Many I am unable to find out about, in the limited time I allow myself to research them. It has become quite fun.
I have just finished:
…the boys kidnapped for janissaries and the girls for harems, the Catalan bands, the Kondaritika-speaking lathmakers of the Zagarochoria, the Loubinistika-speakers of the brothels, the Anglo-Saxons of the Varangian Guard, ye olde Englishe of the Levant company, the Klephts and the Armatoles, the Kroumides of Colchis…
This is a lovely blog – thanks so much for the hard work and may I wish everyone peace and happiness for 2012
This is brilliant. I adore Patrick Leigh Fermor’s writing. I just wanted to add my appreciation to the rest.
Thanks Alan – I wish I had more time to keep up with all the info I have. Much more to come! Tom
Hello Tom: I just discovered your site today and am pleasantly surprised that so many people have heard of, and have read, Patrick Leigh Fermor. I had never heard of PLF until one day about 4 months ago. I was at my hairdresser’s and looking around for something to read while waiting for my appointment I found a copy of The Economist. Whenever I read that magazine, one of the first things that I do is go to the back to read about the arts, books and obituaries, as The Economist’s obits always feature really interesting people. Lo and behold I started to read the obituary of one Patrick Leigh Fermor and was completely transfixed at learning about all the things that he had accomplished, all the places that he had travelled, all the interesting people that he met and befriended, the books that he wrote, well I could go on and on about him. I decided right then and there that I would hunt down, read and buy as many of his books that I could. So far, I have read two of his books( In Tearing Hast and A Time of Gifts) and have bought three, the two I have already mentioned and the Traveller’s Tree. I’m afraid that I’m having a little trouble trying to buy his books as they’re either not in print/available in my part of the world (Canada) or if they are, the tend to be on the expensive side. I’ve started to scout second had bookstores in the hopes of finding more of his books as I’m determined to buy and read as many as I can. I get huge pleasure from reading his books and I’m only sorry that I discovered him after he passed away, but nevertheless, really thrilled that I ‘discovered’ him at all. Just think, if I hadn’t picked up that particular copy of The Economist I may never have known who he was and would have missed out on lots. So a big thank you to The Economist and now you, as now I have a place where I can read and learn more about this interesting person.