Broken Greek: A Story of Chip Shops and Pop Songs

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Expecting him to do even the simplest household chores is like “expecting a guide dog to round up sheep”. His eyes, oblivious to the cameraman’s lens, were narrowed in concentration, but not so much that you couldn’t see the August sun twinkling in them. uk/landing-page/quercus/quercus-company-information/">The data controller is Quercus Editions Ltd. Anyone who underestimates the power of walking along with their ding-dang-dong does so at their peril.

Broken Greek: WINNER OF THE RSL CHRISTOPHER BLAND PRIZE 2021

Chris(takis) and Victoria (from Athens) Paphides married young and wanted more than his small village in Cyprus could offer. The book offers plenty of side dishes and B-sides: British class and racial history; the popularity of Blue Riband biscuits, a Proustian madeleine for anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s; the arrival of Pot Noodles, Channel 4 and VHS. A secure home is the first step in addressing the cruel cycle of poverty to ensure people can fulfil their potential. That’s what I’d want interviewees to tell me a lot of the time… One of my first jobs when I began writing for the Times was interviewing an indie band, who I guess should remain nameless because I’m now friends with them. When those accompanying vocals commence vertical take-off, travelling in a different direction to the melancholy descending harmonica of LA sessioneer Eddy Manson, the effect is to leave you unsure of whether you should laugh or cry.Does he sound like he’s lasciviously trying to weasel his way back into the affections of the woman who’s mad at him? There are flashes of racism; and Paphides’s parents spend much of the time miserable, largely from working themselves too hard – in the case of Victoria, to the point of a hospital stay. Abba, the young Pete quickly determines, are his surrogate parents and he tracks the Bergman-esque arc of their career with the keenest of eyes. On Hogmanay 1979, Pete and his brother Aki watch Cliff Richard perform his hit Devil Woman, his “signature late Seventies/early Eighties ‘dance’ that of a man carefully emerging through a foggy clearing at night in a glade where a puma has been reportedly sighted”. Food for Thought, the debut single by Birmingham’s UB40, showed “what happened to reggae when you deprived it of sunshine.

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It also helped him navigate his way around the challenges surrounding school, friendships and phobias such as visits to the barber, standing near tall buildings and Rod Hull and Emu.Many of the challenges faced by young Paphides – building and maintaining friendships, figuring out his sexuality, developing cultural tastes, trying to work out how to be cool and to avoid getting beaten up by the local toughs – are standard childhood fare. The vertiginous rush of a youthful crush lovingly catapulted from the bedroom to the glare of the footlights – and, in a far more just world than this one, a surefire chart-topper. Co-written by the great Lynsey de Paul, Storm In A Teacup is an elegant inversion of all those songs – a loving, light-hearted reassurance to an insecure lover who “may have overheard” something not worth getting exercised about.

Broken Greek by Pete Paphides | Waterstones Broken Greek by Pete Paphides | Waterstones

I had attended enough shows at the Kings to know that there’d most likely be some sort of signing afterwards.Broken Greek is charming, funny and will be hugely relatable to anyone who grew up in the Seventies and Eighties. Well, comparing their 1977 album Russian Roulette and Bee Gees’ Saturday Night Fever songs is like comparing Studio 54 to singles night at Manchester Rotters.