Lost and Found in Translation > -- English (UK)

In another talk that’s not directly connected to the “Lost in Translation” article, you get to meet Appollina. As she has Greek Cypriot heritage from one part of the family, as the name implies, I initially asked her to try to do a translation, but she kindly declined. Additionally, because she’s a very dear friend of mine and her other half is British, I chose her to fill in for me, as I did the English version of the article, and she was more than happy to respond to my little little quiz. This is only the fourth article in this series, but I’m loving it more with each one and I love that I’m getting to know each of them even more!

Enjoy!

Tell me something about your country or your language that people always get wrong

I am intensely irritated to have to reveal that our monarchs actually DO hold considerable actionable powers, despite the official terminology that whoever sits on the throne “reigns” rather than “rules”.

The King or Queen has the power and authority to declare war, suspend parliament, veto amendments to our laws and can also appoint or dismiss our ministers.

I am a passionate advocate of meritocracy, and I am firmly in favour of a republic. I loathe the fact that we are still clinging on to our hereditary peers and monarchy. In my opinion it is a relic of history; outdated, outmoded and the enemy of equality and justice. I find it globally embarrassing that we still live under this system and apologise for that over-privileged posh twat poncing around all over your countries on state visits.

FUCK THE KING! He’s no king of mine!

Everyone knows Stonehenge of course, but for me the most impressive site we have in the UK is Avebury. It pre-dates Stonehenge by almost 1,000 years and is also far larger, so large that it actually has a village in the middle of it. It is located in Wiltshire, the English countryside, about 1.5-2 hours drive form London. I am lucky enough to have the English half of my family living close to Avebury, so I grew up running around the stones with the sheep in my summers, dodging hippies and hugging the lovely trees!

It is a World Heritage site of course, and happily it has hardly changed at all from when I was a kid; one shop, a Post Office, a pub and a manor house which is also open to the public. There are a few houses there, one of which I almost bought a few years ago in a moment of extreme peacefulness. I thoroughly recommend it for a visit, although if you go on the solstices, it is full of pagans and hippies just like Stonehenge, so if you want to have a peaceful commune with nature and the stones then go out of season and away from those key times of the year. The surrounding villages and towns are also full of historical significance and are very beautiful, as are the magnificent green fields of the countryside.

This is immensely difficult to answer for me, having studied music for many years and having a totally giant range of taste! I will however, choose a British band that I am listening to a lot at the moment, and who I highly recommend you see live if you get a chance.

“In It For The Money” by Supergrass, the title track of the album of the same name.

This is also very difficult for me to answer, so I will choose something that I think has gone unnoticed by many people, but which is a true hidden gem. It was written by one of my comedy heroes of all time, Chris Morris, who you may know for playing the CEO in Season 1 of the IT Crowd.

“Four Lions” is a satire about terrorism. In true Chris Morris style it is utterly hilarious, and you will recognise some of the actors who are now quite famous. It also pierces the heart with its portrayal of how genuinely loving and kind people, become collateral damage in the whole mess of fundamentalism and counter-terrorism policing in the UK. One of my top films of all time.

Arthur C Clarke is my favourite author of all time. The man was a total genius, and I have no hesitation in recommending “Childhood’s End”, which is the definitive science fiction book. It was written in 1953, which is incredible as it predicts so many scientific discoveries and inventions that are in common use today. No one has made a film of this sadly, I would love to see Bryan Fuller or JJ Abrams have a bash at it 😊

I am not one for reading blogs, too busy with my massive queue of books! So I will instead, recommend a British pod-cast which is my favourite and I listen to very regularly.

“No Such Thing As A Fish” is a group of researchers working for the BBC, and is really fantastic for keeping you entertained while doing house stuff like cooking and cleaning, which I am always doing! Its also great if you’re driving or having a bath, not at the same time please!

Its very funny and is full of interesting facts, I’ve learned tons of random stuff listening to them! I love them a lot and consider Anna to be my “bestie who never met me” 😊

What’s your current phone or computer wallpaper? Does it have a particular meaning?

On the left is my desktop wallpaper on my pc and my laptop. I took this photo at the science fiction exhibition at the science museum last year. It was a room decorated to look like the bridge of a spaceship ofc 😃 That was my wallpaper ever since, I love it!

On the right is my phone wallpaper. I took that on the way to Cyprus last year, I think it was early September. I am a bit obsessed with the sky 🙂

Send me a representative photo for your country or language

I took this photo of my cream tea in Polly’s Tea Rooms in Marlborough, a very historical little town not far from Avebury. It was as yummy as it looks!

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