Recipents of the annual William Stanley Moss awards. Rethymno, Crete, 2024

Summer in England (such as it was this year) is well and truly over. We have misty and quite cold mornings with the grass soaked full with dew. I have been very busy for the last couple of months and now have some time to get back to the blog.

You will recall that in June I asked for donations to support the continuation of the annual William Stanley Moss awards which is the brainchild of Billy’s daughter Gabriella Bullock. Many of you were generous enough to donate and Gabriella is very grateful. Perhaps I could ask for one more push from those who were unable to give at the time; every few Pounds will help.

You can make a donation via PayPal by following this link.

Gabriella and Hugh have recently returned from Crete after this year’s awards. She wrote to me with a report and a message of thanks you you all.

Dear Tom,

Please forgive the delay in writing to you, I’m sorry it has taken rather too long. The material I was awaiting from Crete has now arrived, so here we go!

Firstly I want to say how dumbfounded I am that, of the many truly deserving causes you could have chosen to ask your readers across the world to support, you have chosen the really rather meagre prizes that we set up in my father’s name. It is such an unexpected, incredible honour – and such an overwhelmingly wonderful feeling to have your huge endorsement of my endeavour… I am lost for words.

But Tom, I hardly know how to put this – your website has been such a glorious thing, dedicated to Paddy – and in his lifetime it was called “The Greatest Living Englishman” – I’ll never forget telling him about this, and how covered he was in surprise and pleasure and modest confusion… You CAN’T re-dedicate it – it is his, and should be his, always! He’s way too special to share his website with anyone, let alone my father. He is the legend! The idea for the kidnap was all his – and what about the rest of his extraordinary life? Enough that he now shares a photograph on the staircase of the Special Forces Club with my father – but this – it mustn’t happen – please trust me… They may not say so, but I’m sure his legions of devotees among your readers feel the same, however generous they may be.

When we decided to support the University of Crete, it was in the hope of reaching out to the whole of Crete – and I do like to think that the idea would have had Paddy’s blessing… Two prizes are awarded annually to students of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Crete. One is awarded by the Department of Philology and one by the Department of History and Archaeology – it is all tirelessly overseen by the tutors and heads of the departments involved. I hadn’t foreseen this, but I can only say that these prizes are just as much a gift to me as to the students – they have given a very special dimension to my life! Small as they are, they bring a wonderful connection to a wonderful university – world class – and every year I am struck by the prize-winners, always so impressive and so delightful, and I am grateful for the unique opportunity I have to meet them. I love the way that, although the prizes are such a reminder of what happened in long-past wartime, they are all about the future.

This year’s prize-giving took place earlier this month in Rethymno. As well as the prize-winners, their families and friends and their tutors, the Dean of the Faculty and the Heads of Department were there, and gave memorable speeches. I too gave a short speech – which of course centred around you, your generosity and your extraordinary gesture…

Then came the prize-giving itself. This year there were three prize-winners:

1) Aikaterini Yakimtsouki-Magaraki (MA student in Philology) MA in “Classical Studies”. The title of her dissertation was “Medicine as a rival to Philosophy”.

2) Antonios Digalakis (PhD candidate in History and Archaeology), PhD thesis entitled “”Painting in ‘naturale’: The Ionian Islands in mid-17th – mid-18th century”. He was awarded the prize for the thesis chapter entitled “Cretan Painters on the Ionian Islands”.

3) Minas Chouvardas (Postgraduate student in History and Archaeology), MA in Ancient History. Title of MA Dissertation : “The Towns and Small Communities of the Aegean Islands and their Relationship to Athenian Hegemony’. He was awarded the prize for an extensive chapter entitled “Island Hegemonic Aspirations and the Prehistory of Athenian imperialism in the Aegean”.

These last two shared the Department of History and Archaeology prize.

Then each of the prize-winners gave a speech – thoughtful and philosophical in true Cretan fashion, whether long or short, in English or in Greek. Antonios also made the point that the prize money would enable him to visit art works and consult art books, especially in Italy. Aikaterini has sent the text of her speech:

“I am honoured to be the recipient of the William Stanley Moss award and I would like to thank the committee, my professors for their support in times of uncertainty and instability, my precious friends and my family. I would also like to thank Mrs Bullock for offering young people an incentive in our academic and professional journey. I hope that I will continue to explore the perplexity of the Greco-Roman antiquity focusing on scientific thought of the time and on the interaction of the Greeks and Romans with foreign cultures. But what matters most is that I follow my dreams with integrity. And this is the legacy that Major Stanley Moss left. Thank you.”

With the ceremony over, we set off for a wonderful evening and meal together at a restaurant on the sea front – everyone eager to learn more – and of course I was besieged with questions about you and your website… and many glasses were raised…

What can I say? Thank you …!

With love,

Gabriella