Blue Skies & Black Olives

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

By: John Humphrys

Narrated by: Christopher Humphrys, John Humphrys

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

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.'

Entertaining travel narrative.

Interesting. However, I got as frustrated as him at all the problems he encountered building and with officials.