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Blue Skies & Black Olives

A survivor's tale of housebuilding and peacock chasing in Greece

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Blue Skies & Black Olives

By: John Humphrys
Narrated by: Christopher Humphrys, John Humphrys
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It was a moment of mad impulse when John Humphrys decided to buy a small house and a plot of land overlooking the Aegean. All it took was an afternoon.


His son Christopher - a professional musician - was already raising his family there. It would be so simple and enjoyable to build a beautiful home from home where they could all spend time together.


In fact it would test John to his limits and bring difficulties of Olympian proportions. When a neighbourly dispute began over the ownership of an olive tree in the middle of a grove of thousands, John was plunged not only into the impenetrable laws of Greek landholding, but into the centre of Greek life.

When local lore didn't defy all understanding, it had its funny side. And, for Christopher, it revived keen memories of the character of the man who loomed so large throughout his childhood.


Here father and son chart their odyssey in a book which captures a country, a people, a unique bond, and a dream...

(P)2009 Hodder & Stoughton©2009 John Humphrys Europe Greece Celebrity Funny Greek Mythology Ancient Greece Ancient History
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Critic reviews

Praise for Lost for Words: 'Let us be very clear about this from the start: John Humphrys is a Good Thing'
Praise for In God We Doubt: 'There is all the erudition and pithy wit you would expect from Humphrys, but there is also a charming, genuine enquiry that shines through.'
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Really easy to listen to. very well narrated and interesting. Took me there with them and I could picture it well. John Humphrys and his son good voices. I love Greece and listened to it whilst in Greece.

Very enjoyable.

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a short but sweet story about a masterminds challenge to understand the Greek way of building your dream home by the sea.

Greece a mastermind challenge

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It was shorter than I had anticipated. I wish I hadn't wasted a credit.
I expected more funny stories and it was, a bit boring.

Repetitious

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A delightful history of the problems mer and overcome.Most of them to defeat a lesser mortal, luckily,for the reader or rather,listener,not you family. Humphries.

House building. Hazards,

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A very enjoyable light read/listen
In some ways too short. But probably only interesting to those who like me love everything about Greece and the casual friendly Greek way of life.
A third chapter would have been good.
Adventures of the visitors and the olive harvesting

Funny moments

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