Life is full of coincidences and that translator Jake Dactilides should establish a life on Zakynthos has a curious twist in connection with 19th century Greek poet, Zakynthian Andreas Kalvos.

Born in London, Jake is of Greek decent, his father is from Mykonos and mother is from Cyprus.  Up until the age of five, Jake spoke only Greek, learning English when he went to school.  However, a year later his parents decided to move out of the Greek community in North London to the Lincolnshire coast to open a catering business before settling in the neighbouring town of Louth.  He recalls looking, and initially feeling distinctly foreign as the only Greek family in the then small market town.  His mother insisted that they should keep with Greek traditions and celebrations; this would entail weekly trips to the nearest Greek Orthodox Church in Nottingham – a two-hour journey each way!  Jakes mother taught Greek at the church on Saturdays and Jake, with his sister Maria and younger brother Andreas would accompany her, leaving home at 6am in the morning and returning at 7pm in the evenings.  On most Sundays, the whole family would repeat the pilgrimage to Nottingham for church service, arriving early to switch the lighting and heating on before the priest arrived.

Despite coming from a musical and theatrical background, (the children all held equity cards) Jakes energies lay in sport, among his many sporting interests he played table tennis at national youth tournaments and football, until a broken leg hampered his style aged 39!, though he remains an avid fan of Grimsby Town FC.

When Jake left Louth Grammar School, he went on to study travel and tourism.  His first job as a holiday rep  took him to Corfu; back in the 1980’s reps were mostly of a mature in age and young Jake found his partying attitude did not fit the profile, he interviewed for Club 18-30’s eventually completing three seasons with them before returning to Sunmed a little older and wiser.  Over a twenty-year period Jake worked (and lived) extensively throughout the Mediterranean for a number of tour operators to include Greek holiday specialists HCI and Timsway plus wintering with Club Ski Bound in Austria.  Later he became tour director for the coach tours division of Saga Holidays travelling to America, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.  In 1990, he managed a small team on Zakynthos as Resort Controller for Airtours.  It was during this season that friend in the UK asked Jakes help to translate and assist a case at the islands hospital - this would be the catalyst to establishing a career and a life on the island.  Meantime he continued to travel and in the late 1990’s he was based in Vermont, USA with Inghams Ski Holidays managing their East Coast programme for six consecutive winters.  In 2000 his daughter Angie-Fay was born, sadly Jakes relationship with her mother was not to last.

Jakes translating and interpreting work continued to develop particularly with the tour operators and two years after meeting Katia, a classical guitar music teacher, Jake decided it was time to make a permanent home and life on Zakynthos; he handed in his reps badge to concentrate on a professional career as a translator and on his forty-first birthday he married Katia.

Today he is firmly established on the island; he is official translator to the Zakynthos Police Department and the magistrate’s court and has a varied portfolio of well-known British and European companies from travel, insurance and medical assistance specialists to tour operators.  He lives in Pantokratoras with Katia, their two dogs, two cats, two chickens and a cockatiel; he is a passionate advocate for Zakynthos and over the years has introduced a wealth of family and friends to the island he now calls home.

Andreas Kalvos (1792 – 1869), was born on Zakynthos, though later educated in Italy.  Aged 60 Kalvos, left Corfu for England with school teacher Charlotte Augusta Wadans, twenty years his junior.  They married a year later and settled in Louth where she became governess of a girl’s boarding school while he taught French and maths.  Kalvos died of pneumonia on 3rd November 1869.

In 1960, the remains of Andreas and Charlotte Kalvos were exhumed and reburied side by side in the little museum dedicated to notable literary figures of Zakynthos in St Marks Square.

On a cold November weekend in 1992 the town of Louth was transformed into little Greece as the Greek flag fluttered from St Margaret’s church above a host of academic and religious dignitaries from all over Greece, plus no less, the Bishop of Zakynthos.  Attendees were part of an emotional ceremony to commemorate the life of celebrated national poet Andreas Kalvos having lived out his final years in Louth.

*Zante Magazine would like to thank Louth Museum for supplying information relating to the Episcopal service of Andreas Kalvos