Saskia Unreserved: In Print

By Saskia Constantinou

Saskia has opened a window on a cultural and intellectual strata in Cyprus society which is unique.

Vincent Kane OBE BBC Current Affairs Presenter and Interviewer

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SaskiaUnrerved: In Print delves into the life and work of erudite and experienced professionals offering commentary and notable words of people whose opinion matters, across many fields.

They share their knowledge in a no-holds barred interview taking the words of Aristotle to heart “Quality is not an act, it’s a habit.”

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Nemanja Bjedov – Basketball Coach   

BirdLife Cyprus – Non-profit organisation   

Leon Bosch – Double Bass Soloist   

Natalie Christopher  – Astrophysicist 

Sofronis Clerides – Economist

Michail Elia  –   Founder: Biennale Larnaca

Christos Eliades  – Artist

Fryne Eliades – Ethnographical Museum 

Stefanos Farmakas – TV Director

Yvonne Georgiadou – Artistic Director

Christopher Gunning – Composer

Anna Koukkides – Procopiou  – Artificial Intelligence Analyst

Dimitris Kyparissopoulos  – Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon  

Mats Lidström –  Concert Cellist

Andreas Mallouris – Plastic Surgeon and Artist

Georgios Mikellides – Psychiatrist

Yiota Nicolaidou – Cyber Security

Charles Owen  –  Concert Pianist

Leonidas Phylactou –  Institute of Neurology & Genetics

Maggie Semple – Entrepreneur

Monica Shiakou – Child Psychologist

Melanie Steliou – Actress

Elena Tanou – Entrepreneur

Memnia Theodorou – Dentist, Entrepreneur, Sailor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Armida Publications
• Release date: Apr 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9789963255931

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Copyright © 2019 by Saskia Constantinou

All rights reserved. Published by Armida Publications Ltd in collaboration with Apollon International Publications.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher or the Author. For information regarding permission, write to Armida Publications Ltd,

P.O.Box 27717, 2432 Engomi, Nicosia, Cyprus or email: [e-mail]

-or-

Apollon International Publications

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Armida Publications is a member of the Independent Publishers Guild (UK),and a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association (USA)

www.armidabooks.com | Great Literature. One Book At A Time.

Graphics: Christian Stoian

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Photographers: Christoforos Papasavvas and Sandra B. Juhasz Constantinou

1st edition: March 2019

ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-9963-255-92-4

Dedication

For my parents, Judith and Costas Constantinou

who lovingly made so many sacrifices

and

My daughter Sandra Blythin Juhasz Constantinou – my shining light

Profound thanks go to:

My interviewees, without whom this book would not have come about;

Judith Constantinou for many hours of proof-reading;

Christian Stoian for continued patience in the design changes;

Armida Publications for their belief in my work and the project;

Photographer Christoforos Papasavvas

and

Sandra C for her unending patience

Foreword by Vincent Kane OBE

Interviewing is a rare skill; people who are really good at it are few and far between. That is because it is possible for the interviewer in the various environments in which interviewing of one sort or another is carried out, to be possessed of all the necessary virtues – to be quick witted, articulate, eloquent even, but most of all to be to be hard working at the research into the topic of the interview; yes, to have all these strings to his or her bow – yet still, not to miss the central point of what it is all about, which is that in the interview, the important person is the person being interviewed. The interviewee is the star of the show and the interviewer is merely the process which enables the star to shine brightly or to be dim, distant, or clouded over as the case may be.

One area where interviewing needs specialised skills is the court of law where witnesses are examined and cross examined, but where the rules of evidence are tightly controlled. Barristers are not allowed to ask ‘leading questions.’ A leading question is one where the answer is contained in the question.

When you looked out of the window, Mrs Jones, did you see the accused smashing the head of the deceased with a big hammer? That is a leading question.

When you looked out of the window, Mrs. Jones, what did you see? That is not.

Sadly, in the last ten years or so the leading question has become the normal modus operandi for the great bulk of interviewers on television and radio. The journalist sitting in the studio, all too often interviewing another journalist at the point of the action or disaster or whatever will summarise the situation in a thirty second speech and will then ask his colleague a thousand miles away Is that right? To which there is only one answer. Absolutely. Whenever you hear an interviewee begin an answer with Absolutely you know that he has been metaphorically elbowed out of the way by the interviewer. And that is not what interviewers are for. Interviewers are there to make people talk. About themselves, what they believe, what they have achieved, about their dreams and disappointments.

Occasionally, in the field of current affairs, politics, and controversy, the interviewer’s role is to confront his subject and challenge him or her. But he should never confront them with his own point of view or set of values over whatever the topic might be. Rather he should ask the protagonist the questions which those of his viewers or listeners or readers who disagree with him would want asked. And the interviewer should insist, politely but firmly, on getting answers to those questions.

So, in a model interview, we might use the analogy of the horse race in which the interviewee is the horse and the interviewer is the jockey. The outcome depends on the breeding, the speed, and the stamina of the horse, but also on the skill of the jockey, the jockey steers the horse and varies the pace with hands and heels, he might show the horse the whip but he never uses it. If his skill and judgement are in place he might well be riding a winner, but it is the horse which wins the race – not the jockey. He is a vital part of the winning process but the trainer leads the horse into the winner’s enclosure while the jockey walks off to the weigh-in and to prepare for the next race.

Saskia Constantinou is a fine jockey and in this book she presents two dozen winners she has ridden over the last year in her lunchtime programme on the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. More than that, she has in my view, opened a window on a cultural and intellectual strata in Cyprus society which is unique. Unique, because I have not seen it delineated as sharply and as completely anywhere else and I have been resident here for twelve years.

Saskia’s interviews take us a world away from the politicians, the Cyprob, the Troika, and the non-performing loans which are the daily grind and introduce us to intelligent people who by their accomplishments, achievements, and aspirations enrich this island and give it true meaning.

They come from a variety of cultures and disciplines; music is strongly represented, and the visual arts as well. Medicine, too, including the difficult art (for it is an art) of psychiatry, provides a handful of leading-edge practitioners, every one of them a winner, testament to the fact that in this field Cyprus benefits from ‘best in class’ professionals. There are naturalists here, working hard to preserve the beauty of the island and its flora and fauna which are everywhere under threat. Some of Saskia’s subjects are activists and the majority of those are women which is most pleasing to see in what is still a heavily patriarchal society. One of them, Anna Koukkides-Procopiou reminds us that since 1960 only one Turkish Cypriot woman and three Greek Cypriot women have played a significant role in negotiation for a solution of the Cyprus problem. Food for thought.

One thing all of them have in common is that they are passionate. About what they do and what they are striving for, but also about Cyprus. Yes, they face up to the blemishes and the things that they think are wrong here.

Yvonne Georgiadou for instance says that Cyprus doesn’t have any serious cultural plan, written or unwritten and she points to an absence of vision, absence of serious cultural strategy and absence of culture’s tangible benefits for society. But they are all of them patriots, fiercely so in many cases. They love Cyprus and they strive with all their might to help it achieve its potential. Melanie Steliou, one of the youngest of Saskia’s interviewees, might just help them to do that. She is careful to distinguish patriotism from nationalism which she says is a belief that one’s country is better than anybody else’s. In what I find to be a moving passage this is what she says.

Nationalism is the enemy of patriotism. You cannot be a patriot if you are a nationalist. Look what nationalism did to Cyprus, nationalism destroyed this country...

Melanie, by the way, is a formidable activist. In July 2017 she posted pictures of herself breast feeding her baby daughter on social media – to howls of protest from all quarters. Five months later in November 2017 M.P.s drafted two pieces of legislation to support the breast-feeding mother at work.

Nothing succeeds like success. Cyprus will surely achieve its potential.

Vincent Kane OBE

BBC Current Affairs Presenter and Interviewer

BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award

OBE for Services to Broadcasting

Biography

Vincent Kane was born in Cardiff in 1935. In 1960, speaking with Mary O’Neill, he won The Observer Mace, representing Cardiff University.

Kane is best known for his work as a presenter and interviewer with the BBC, with whom he worked for almost 36 years. He presented television programmes such as Wales Today and Week In Week Out and was on radio in Good Morning Wales and Meet for Lunch (BBC Radio Wales)

He has been called the Jeremy Paxman of Wales because of his searching interview techniques, though he was already a well-known figure in Wales before Paxman made his name on national television.

In June 1988 Kane was awarded the Office of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Broadcasting in Wales.

Kane founded the Wales Quality Centre and, almost 30 years later, retired from the role of chairman in December 2012. He now spends the majority of his time living in Cyprus and recently published a book on carnal relations for older people.

Preface to the First Edition

Albert Einstein said Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

I’ve worked for the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation for the past 17 years but it has been this last 18th year which has been the most exciting with the advent of the 4th radio channel – RikClassic. The dream became a reality thanks to the foresight and courage I must add, of the Director General, Michael Maratheftis. Despite much opposition, we launched on the auspicious first day of January 2018 and it has been a wonderful year for so many differing reasons.

As a classical musician, one has a very disciplined life but which simultaneously, is also very free to allow for creativity. It is of paramount importance that creative spirits are allowed to develop in their own time and way. They cannot conform to strict hours and schedules. Creative high achievers like to stir things up and take calculated risks. They push themselves harder than most, and enjoy finding new directions to explore. Creative minds are also not crowd followers and set challenging but achievable goals. But imagination, inspiration and motivation doesn’t come without work.

The reasoning behind the title of the radio programme, SaskiaUnreserved arose from the notion that it was time to give erudite, experienced people from around the world in different sectors an opportunity to have a no-holds barred conversation without the usual time constraints observed by media. Despite having conducted so many interviews over the years, it was quite different for me to have the opportunity and ability to explore outside the cultural and musical realm.

I’ve had the privilege and honour to speak to so many internationally renowned people over the last year from around the world - Entrepreneurs, artists, musicians and composers, cyber security experts, business managers and economists to discuss issues from the environment to human resources and also to so many highly acclaimed doctors, scientists and mathematicians. They have given open and frank discussions, and I hope in some way, their brilliant work and contributions to society have been brought to the fore.

My special thanks goes to renowned BBC broadcaster Vincent Kane OBE who so kindly wrote the foreword. It is an honour to have the support of such a distinguished, veteran broadcaster and author.

The magic and development of technology and social media has also meant that the radio studio can, and in this case has been transformed into an online media too. By doing live video broadcasts, all the exceptional work, ideas and concepts of my guests, are open to the world. It’s been so heartening to receive compliments and thanks and probably the most fulfilling, thanks from a man who said he was saved from prostate cancer after watching a live link with a surgeon who advised certain vulnerable groups to go for a check-up. Those are the moments which are so important.

As it is a daily programme, over the year, there have been over 280 interviews, but it was only in late August that I thought of compiling a book of written interviews – hence SaskiaUnreserved: In Print. Huge thanks go to all my interviewees who kindly took the time to write their views and apologies to those whom I was simply unable to include. I am working on the 2020 edition...

Saskia Constantinou

Nemanja Bjedov

Respect all, fear none!

Nemanja Bjedov studied basketball coaching at the Junior College of Coaching in Belgrade, and holds a BA (Sports Management); BSc (Communications) from the University of Nicosia and an Associate Degree from the University of Indianapolis in Corporate Communication. He is currently completing his MBA.

Coach Bjedov led the University of Nicosia’s team to three consecutive championship titles in the Cyprus University Sports Federation’s league and in 2007 was Head Coach of Intercollege/ETHA. He also coached top level teams of Frederick Achilleas Kaimakliou before moving to Apoel in 2012. While in Beirut, he was Head Coach of Homenetmen Antelias Women and technical director of the youth academies leading them to victory. He is currently Head Coach of Apoel BC Women’s team.

When did you begin basketball and what motivated you?

I started practising basketball in the third grade of my primary school when I was nine years old. At every break between classes we played basketball in the school yard and it was always something to look forward to. Everyone was very enthusiastic about it and although football is, and always will be sport number one in Serbia, and regardless of the fact that our school had an excellent handball section which most of us participated in, alongside few friends I went to  K Zvezdara (School of Basketball Zvezdara) where I learned my first steps on the basketball court with coach Vinko Bakić.

Growing up in Serbia, life was very different as a young athlete with discipline coming to mind…

Basketball was our escape from the everyday struggles and coach had complete authority. Discipline was something you had to have in order to succeed, and the coach was there to ensure that we didn’t fall off the track. When faced with difficulties you had to deal with them, as there were no easy option on the table. Unfortunately, nowadays the situation is completely the opposite.

Can you tell us about your early career, some of the highlights and what were some of the greatest challenges you had to face?

I practised during the air alerts of 1999 NATO bombings of Serbia. I literally did not care about them and my total focus was on the basketball court. I cannot say that I was the only one with this mentality as I recall us arranging to play 3 on 3 games during the alerts. On court it was always a challenge to practise and play with older players because you had to know your place and