Friday 12 July 2013

George Wilkinson (and Lawrence Durrell) - Corfu and Cyprus Connections


George Wilkinson (1911-1967) was responsible for persuading the Durrells to come to Corfu.

Later, the old friends apparently drifted apart in Cyprus. Some surprising comments on this website

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/i/l/James-L-Wilkinson/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0711.html

"When Durrell had arrived in Cyprus, he had seen a lot of George and Iris. They put him up, they helped him find his house, they lent him household equipment and their car, and Iris looked after his 2-year old daughter, Sappho. But as soon as Durrell got settled in, they saw less of him. He had used them and he was now after bigger game. Iris had little time for Durrell. Forty years later, she remembered him as a poseur, on the make, “a repulsive man with horrid little, chubby, heavy hands and a bloated body,” the type of person who could not prevent himself pawing pretty women. When Durrell eventually left Cyprus in 1956, George never saw his old friend again".

Notes from Endymion Wilkinson

Durrell at the White House, Kalami:




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