Colin Smith
Aphrodite’s Isle
Sweet and Bitter Island: A History of the British in Cyprus
By Tabitha Morgan
I B Tauris 302pp £25 order from our bookshop
It is curious that Britain’s links with Cyprus should remain so strong. The island was under British government for less than a century and the severance of those imperial bonds came after a bitter saga of ambuscade, assassination and judicial murder during which the mere possession of a gun was grounds for hanging.
Yet fifty years after independence some 60,000 UK citizens are permanent residents of Cyprus, far more than ever lived there in colonial times. Britain retains ninety-nine square miles of the island as a sovereign military base. More Britons take their holidays on the island than tourists of any other nationality. English is widely spoken and steering wheels are on the right.
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