Peter Paphides (born 1969 as Panayiotakis Paphides or Panayiotis Paphides) is a British
journalist and broadcaster.
Early life
Paphides was born in
Birmingham to a
Greek Cypriot father, Chris, and a
Greek mother, Victoria.
He has an elder brother, Aki.
His father ran the 'Great Western' fish bar in
Acocks Green, and the family lived upstairs.
In 1979, the family moved to the suburb of
Olton, where his father ran the 'King Fisher' (now 'George's Fish Bar').
The name Panayiotakis was shortened to "Takis", before he decided he preferred to be called Peter.
As a child, he had a lisp, and when he was three years old he developed
selective mutism, wherein he would speak to no-one except his parents and brother.
He read
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
at the
University of Wales, Lampeter.
Career
Between 2005 and 2010 he was employed as the chief
rock critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
of ''
The Times'' and presented ''The Times weekly music
podcast for Sounds Music supplement. Since then, he has worked freelance including for ''
The Guardian'', ''
Mojo'' and ''
Q'' magazine. He has also made various documentaries for
BBC Radio 4 and made a pilot for
BBC 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
show Vinyl Revival which was later commissioned for a seven-part series, and was broadcast from 4 December 2011.
In 2019, Paphides launched Needle Mythology, a record label aimed at reissues of old albums that had not previously been available on vinyl. In October 2020, the label released its first album of new material, In Memory of My Feelings, an original collaboration between
The Anchoress and
Bernard Butler.
Paphides has also written for ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' and ''
Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
''.
In 2020 his memoir, ''Broken Greek'', was published by
Quercus.
The book was reviewed positively by
Alan Johnson in ''New Statesman'', who wrote that he had "never read anything that tells the immigrant’s story with such clarity and tenderness". It won the 2021
RSL Christopher Bland Prize.
Personal life
He married ''
Times'' columnist
Caitlin Moran
Catherine Elizabeth Moran (; born 5 April 1975) is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster at ''The Times'', where she writes three columns a week: one for the Saturday Magazine, a TV review column, and the satirical Friday column "Celeb ...
on 27 December 1999; they met while both were working for ''Melody Maker''. The couple share a home in North London and have two daughters.
References
External links
Guardian biographical article
1969 births
Living people
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
Alumni of the University of Wales, Lampeter
British people of Greek Cypriot descent
British music journalists
British podcasters
Melody Maker writers
The Times people
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