JULY 20TH:

On this day in 1934, Aliki Stamatina Vougiouklaki, one of Greece’s leading movie stars and its national sweetheart, was born in Athens. Vougiouklaki studied at the National Theatre of Greece and she secured her first lead role in the 1953 production of The Little Mouse. After her movie debut, Vougiouklaki very quickly became Greece’s most popular star. She created her personal stage group and starred in many films, comedies, and melodramas (in many of them she co-starred with Dimitris Papamichael, her husband and theatre partner between 1965 and 1974). By the end of her career, she had performed in 42 movies, most of which were musicals. It was reported that her salary for each film was 1 million drachmas and a share of future profits of her films – when the basic salary in Greece per month was between 2,000 and 5,000 drachmas. According to her biography on IMDB, Vougiouklaki’s film Lieutenant Natassa (1970) has been the biggest moneymaker in the history of Greek cinema. Vougiouklaki died three days after her birthday (on July 23rd) in 1996 at the age of 62 after battling pancreatic cancer.

Also on this day, Demetrios Vikelas, the Greek businessman, writer, and first President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), passed away at the age of 73. Born in Ermoupoli on the island of Syros, Vikelas was educated at home by his mother (possibly due to his fragile health). When he was 6-years-old, he and his family moved to Constantinople and then, eventually, to Odessa. Surrounded by a family of merchants, Vikelas became familiar with the world of commerce early on. By the age of 13, he was working at his family’s firm. A great lover of literature, he continued to study at the same time, but without obtaining a degree. Throughout his life, Vikelas remained a self-taught man, despite at various times following courses in a variety of subjects, including botany, architecture, and languages. In 1851, after his family’s firm went bankrupt, Vikelas left home to go live in London with his uncles who were also involved in trade. Employed first as a bookkeeper, he expanded his knowledge of business and subsequently became a partner of what was then a flourishing company. During his 25 years with the company, Vikelas accumulated a large amount of capital. The company went bankrupt after many years, but Vikelas was able to nevertheless retire comfortably and devoted himself full-time to his literary activities. As well as translating classical works into modern Greek, he wrote essays on education and history, some novels, and various press articles. In 1894, at the request of Loannis Fokianos – an athletics instructor heavily involved in Greek sport – Vikelas agreed to represent the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastics Club at the International Athletic Congress in Paris. Before this experience, Vikelas had no particular link to the world of sport. He nonetheless joined the second commission responsible for re-establishing the Olympic Games. To his great surprise, he was appointed as the first President of what would become the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

JULY 22ND:

On this day in 1969, Despina Vandi (née Despina Malea), the Greek singer, was born in Germany. Her family returned to Kavala, Greece when she was six years old. Even though Vandi always knew that she wanted to become a performer, she also wanted to have a background in something else as well. She eventually enrolled at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki to study psychology, philosophy, and education, but later dropped out to start her musical career. She moved to Athens where she started using the stage name ‘Elli Mara’ before adopting the last name ‘Vandi’ in an effort to hide that she had begun singing from her parents. Vandi’s career took off as she became one of Greece’s modern laika-pop superstars. She has sold more than one million records in Greece alone and several of her albums have become multi-platinum. In 2003, she married Demis Nikolaidis (former professional Greek soccer player and former president of AEK Athens FC). The couple has two children: Melina and Giorgos.