Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas
Georgios Athanasiadis–Novas (Greek: Γεώργιος Αθανασιάδης-Νόβας) (February 9, 1893 – August 10, 1987[1]) was a Greek poet, lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister for one month in 1965.
Born in Naupactus, he obtained his law degree from the University of Athens. He was first elected to the Greek Parliament in 1926 representing his native prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania, and was repeatedly elected to office until 1964.
A lawyer by trade, he served as Minister for the Interior in 1945, Minister for Education in 1950 and Minister for Industry in 1951.
In 1961, however, he was one of many conservatives who joined the Center Union (EK), in opposition to the corruption of right-wing governments at the time. In 1964, after EK came into power, he became Speaker of the Greek Parliament.
On July 15, 1965 he was appointed Prime Minister of Greece by king Constantine, after the latter dismissed George Papandreou, Sr., a move that is known as Apostasia of 1965. He was followed by many EK conservatives and with support from conservative National Radical Union MPs tried to form a government, but failed to get past a vote of confidence in parliament. He was replaced on August 20 of the same year.
In July 1974 he was one of the politicians who brokered the end of the Regime of the Colonels and the appointment of Constantine Karamanlis as Prime Minister.
Athanasiadis-Novas also wrote some poetry and prose under the pen name Georgios Athanas (Γεώργιος Αθάνας).[2] Literary critics found very little in the way of value in his works, but he found some popularity among his detractors, who used them to ridicule his less-than-distinguished political career. The stanza:
- Itan ta stithia sou
- aspra san galata
- kai mou 'leges:
- gargala ta
-
- Your breasts were
- White as milk
- And you urged me
- "Tickle them!"
gained him the comical nickname "Gargalatas", Tickler. Only after 40 years has it been proven that the fact that he wrote this stanza was an urban legend. It all started from an article of Costas Stamatiou at the newspaper Ta Nea, with the intention to ridicule him. Lefteris Papadopoulos cleared up the situation with an article at the same newspaper in 2004.
He died in Athens in 1987, aged 94.
See also
Notes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Greece 1965 |
Succeeded by Ilias Tsirimokos |
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- 1893 births
- 1987 deaths
- People from Nafpaktos
- Freethinkers' Party politicians
- Liberal Party (Greece) politicians
- Liberal Democratic Union (Greece) politicians
- Centre Union politicians
- Apostasia of 1965
- Prime Ministers of Greece
- Ministers of the Interior of Greece
- Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament
- Greek MPs 1926–28
- Greek MPs 1928–32
- Greek MPs 1932–33
- Greek MPs 1933–35
- Greek MPs 1936
- Greek MPs 1946–50
- Greek MPs 1950–51
- Greek MPs 1951–52
- Greek MPs 1952–56
- Greek MPs 1956–58
- Greek MPs 1958–61
- Greek MPs 1961–63
- Greek MPs 1963–64
- Greek MPs 1964–67
- Greek journalists
- Members of the Academy of Athens (modern)
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
