Those who have read his extremely interesting book, The Persistent Historian, from the publications of Papadopoulos, are well aware of the personality of Richard Clogg. The man who loved Greece tried his best to know our past and present, but although he has a soft spot for us, he is not given to us. His sharpness and critical eye distinguish him, perhaps, from other colleagues. And perhaps it is his attitude that makes him one of the most valuable observers of Greece in recent decades. His scientific work and active academic life, culminating in his tenure in the Chair of Korai at King’s College, are part of his rich achievements. The best known to us is the “Brief History of Greece”, from the editions of “Katoptro”, which was translated into 13 languages ​​(among them all the languages ​​of the Balkans). He is, of course, the author of other classic books today on the history and political life of our country.

So it’s time to say “thank you” to him for offering us all these decades. Klog will be awarded in early September by our Ambassador in London, Mr. Ioannis Raptakis, on behalf of the President of the Hellenic Republic, for his overall spiritual contribution to our country. Born in 1939, he studied history at the University of Edinburgh. He first set foot in our country in 1958, arriving by train from the former Yugoslavia. In his autobiographical book, he spartanly describes his first visit as an eighteen-year-old youth who encountered a stern customs officer, Idomeni, who cursed through his lips. The young man suspected that this was some kind of comment about the role of the British in EOKA and Cyprus, but did not flinch. This was the beginning of the romance with Greece.

One of the most interesting pages of his life was the fight against the junta. The whirlwind of events takes us back to 1968, when he collaborated with Eleni Vlahova, the exiled editor of K magazine, publisher of the English-language magazine Hellenic Review. They received a report saying that the Colonels’ PR officer was paying British Labor MP Gordon Badger to create a positive image for their regime in England. Clogg thought it should be published in The Sunday Times, which the junta was trying to stop. In the end, free speech won out and the newspaper published the report in question. To this day, he remains a persistent and struggling scientist, keeping a close eye on us.