The Cretan Lawrence

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Imogen Grundon, Patrick Leigh Fermor: The Rash Adventurer. A Life of John Pendlebury, Libri 2007  John Pendlebury (1904-41), the ‘Cretan Lawrence’, was shot in the first months of the German occupation of Crete while organising bands of guerrillas to fight the invaders. Not a professional soldier, Pendlebury was chosen for the task because of his intimate knowledge of Crete, its people and language which he had acquired through his years of archaeological experience on the island. As Curator at Knossos, successor to Sir Arthur Evans, his athleticism and taste for adventure took him all over the island in search of ancient sites. In this, the first biography of John Pendlebury, Imogen Grundon constructs a vivid picture of a brilliant and charismatic scholar-hero, whose life was lived, and ultimately lost, by an ideal of romantic chivalry.

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