Today marks the birthday of Bruce Chatwin, born 13 May 1940. This was sent to me by the author Carol McGrath’s husband Patrick. It’s a reminder of the close friendship between Bruce Chatwin and Paddy, as well as the stunning scenery around Kardamyli. I’m hoping to visit again in September; maybe second time Covid lucky! […]
Because of the close friendship between Paddy and Bruce Chatwin, this blog has often highlighted material about the controversial, but acclaimed travel writer who died of HIV in 1989. I have just come across a programme on BBC iPlayer which I hope that many of you can access (is iPlayer still restricted by geography?), as […]
The link between Bruce Chatwin and Paddy is very strong. They were good friends and Chatwin’s writing has often been compared favourabley with Paddy’s. When Chatwin stayed at Kadamyli he and Paddy often went for long afternoon walks in the Taygetos. This BBC Four programme about Bruce Chatwin’s life includes some significant sections with Paddy: […]
I had no great intention to continue delving into the life and work of Bruce Chatwin, but I found the following article in this week’s London Evening Standard absolutely fascinating. The forthcoming book of letters edited by his biographer Nicholas Shakespeare, with commentary by his long suffering wife is sure to prove quite explosive. As […]
I will readily admit to knowing next to nothing about Bruce Chatwin. However, he seems to have a loyal following, has been flatteringly compared with Paddy as a writer, and of course Paddy was a friend and mentor to him. Chatwin’s ashes are scattered around a Byzantine church near to Paddy’s home in the Peloponnese. […]
This morning’s post about Bruce Chatwin has been most popular. Thank you for all the lovely comments. Nigel Dipper sent the above photo taken on one of their many visits to Agios Nikolaos. I hope that you enjoy it. Hi Tom Thanks for the reminder of the birthday of Bruce Chatwin; a remarkable man and […]
I was recently directed to this excellent site following a mention in the Eland Books newsletter. Travel Writing World is an award-winning podcast and website featuring interviews with travel writers, book reviews, author profiles, and resources for travel writers and their readers. To date I have enjoyed a discussion about Eric Newby’s A Short Walk […]
Dear Readers, I hope that you are well. It is a colder day here in Winchester, with wintry showers, sleet and rain, suddenly interspersed with dazzlingly low and bright sunshine. Despite the virus, there’s a lot of activity as people in this little city prepare for Christmas. I shall be putting up the tree tomorrow. […]
Just a quick reminder that the Werner Herzog film about Bruce Chatwin is only available until Saturday 26th October on iPlayer. It is really quite absorbing, combining Chatwin’s often beautiful text with Herzog’s amazing cinematography; sometimes it is as if time stands still as we observe landscapes or wait for interviewees (especially when discussing Songlines) […]
The lovely team at the unmissable Slightly Foxed, Hazel, Jennie and host Philippa, explore the art of travel writing with the acclaimed author and biographer Sara Wheeler and Barnaby Rogerson of the well-loved independent publisher Eland Books. Buckle-up and join them on an audio adventure that takes in a coach trip around England, an Arctic […]
Robert Macfarlane has done a lot to keep Paddy’s name and writing style alive and current. His new book, Underland: A Deep Time Journey, is one that offers a new perspective on the human impact on our planet, is receiving rave reviews. By William Dalrymple First published in The Guardian. Stories of human journeys into […]
In 2015, the experienced BBC reporter and presenter, John Humphrys, hosted a BBC Radio 4 programme about Paddy’s life in the village of Kardamyli in the Mani, exploring his the life and work. The programme is now available (for how long I don’t know) on the BBC Sounds website. Maybe take half an hour this […]
It is rare for writers of the stature of Susan Hill to say “I was knocked sideways by this book”. Author Kamila Shamsie thought Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey, the debut book by young writer Adam Weymouth, “Dazzling, often in unexpected ways, Adam Weymouth is a wonderful travel writer, nature writer, adventure […]
In the catalogue to the exhibition Charmed Lives in Greece: Ghika, Craxton, Leigh Fermor (at the British Museum until July 15), Michael Llewellyn-Smith writes that, in his later years, Patrick Leigh Fermor “had an all-purpose excuse to send to pesterers”. The note read: “It was very kind of you to write. The trouble is that […]
A thought provoking piece for the Easter holidays from Barnaby Rogerson, founder of the wonderful Eland books. May I wish you all, wherever you are, a very happy and peaceful Easter (remember Paddy had arrived for the great Easter celebrations at Esztergom on the Danube). By Barnaby Rogerson First published in Errant Magazine 18 September 2015 […]
Rudolf Fischer, who has died aged 92, was a historian, linguist and polymath who advised and guided foreign writers through the minutiae of eastern European history, language, etymology and ethnography; the foremost of these, Patrick Leigh Fermor, acknowledged in 1986 that his debt to Fischer was “beyond reckoning”. First published in the Telegraph 12 June […]
Taken from the introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of William Dalrymple’s first book In Xanadu: A Quest, and first published in The Spectator on 24 June 2015 At the end of the windy, rainy April of 1986, towards the end of my second year at university, I was on my way back to my […]
Final scheduling for the John Humphrys’ BBC Radio 4 programme about Paddy is available on the BBC website. It will broadcast at 1600 hours on Monday 22 June and will be available later on the BBC website. Which tells us … John Humphrys travels to Greece, to the village of Kardamyli in the Mani, to […]
After a year of intensive work, Paddy’s archive is now available to the public at the National Library of Scotland. The inventory is 81 pages long and the list of Paddy’s correspondents is well over 1,000, with many many famous names including Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Iris Murdoch, Lawrence Durrell, Bruce Chatwin, Cyril Connolly, the […]
It appears it is the time for discussion about Paddy’s house at Kalamitsi to recommence. I was surprised when the article about his English home did not provoke any comments about the house in Greece which moulders away as the Benaki continues to drag its feet and struggle with its finances. The whole affair is […]
BBC Radio Four rarely disappoints. At least not over the course of a few hours where there will be enough variety and quality for everyone. On Good Friday the Point of View programme was given over to William Dalrymple William who celebrated the writing of Peter Matthiessen who died this month. Dalrymple compares him with […]
As the long-awaited final volume of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s memoirs is published, Jonathan Lorie celebrates the brilliant travel writer. By Jonathan Lorie First published in The Independent, Saturday 14 September 2013. “This is the Byron Room,” murmured John Murray the seventh, ushering me into the Regency drawing room of his publishing house in Piccadilly, where […]
Paddy’s headstone was unveiled during a short service at Dumbleton on 8 November, his name day in Greece, the feast of the Archangel Michael (the Heavenly Brigadier as Paddy called him). It is Portland stone, like Joan’s. The Greek inscription reads ‘HE WAS OF THAT EXCELLENCE WHICH IS OF GREECE’ Olivia Stewart, one of his […]
By Michael Dirda. First published in the Washington Post, 23 October 2013. In the annals of armchair adventure, nothing can rival a travel classic by a good-looking, sandy-haired young Englishman — or Englishwoman. If you’re planning ahead for some ideal winter’s reading, you can’t go wrong with any of the following: A.W. Kinglake’s “Eothen.” Peter […]
Part 3 of Ben Downing’s meeting with Paddy in 2001 at Kardamyli. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. by Ben Downing. This text originally appeared in issue 165 of The Paris Review, Spring 2003. There was an incident dating from this vagabond period—from 1956, to be exact—that I was keen to ask Paddy […]
Ryan Eyre lives in Seattle, and took a journey to Kardamyli to meet Paddy in 2009. He has written this article for the Journal of the Book Club of Washington, and has asked to publish it here as well. Ryan tells us, as many others have done, about Paddy’s remarkable memory, which he utilised to […]
War hero, self-made scholar and the greatest travel writer of his generation, Patrick Leigh Fermor lived on a remote peninsula in the Peloponnese until his death in 2011. From a humble house he built himself, now being restored by an Athens museum, he explored Greece’s romantic landscape—and forged a profound link to its premodern past. […]
This article was sent to me by Charles Hennah, and I am sharing it with you for three reasons. The first his the life of Bob Crisp is pretty extraordinary and worth a read; as the generation who fought the war die-off we read less and less every day about these brave men. Second, Paddy […]
Whilst digging around I came across this charming obituary to Paddy by Justin Marozzi who is famous for his book The Man Who Invented History: Travels with Herodotus, in which Justin describes an account of a lengthy retsina fuelled lunch with Paddy when he visited Kardamyli in 2007. By Justin Marozzi. First published in StandPoint […]
A review of Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by William Dalrymple which is a must read. He knew Paddy and wrote one of the best profiles of Paddy for the Daily Telegraph in 2008 which you can read here. by William Dalrymple First published in the Financial Times, 2 November 2012. Patrick Leigh Fermor, who […]
Patrick Leigh Fermor 