John Waller was born within sight of the ‘continent’ on the hills above Hythe in Kent, six weeks before the Dunkirk evacuation of British, French, Belgian and Canadian troops. After Cambridge University, he trained as an engineer at IBM and set up and ran a successful computer company in 1969. 

In 1970, he and his Danish wife Jannie built a minute house in Corfu, where he wrote eight non-fiction books, two stage plays and a screen play after his retirement in 1999. 

He was Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Twickenham in 1979, 1983 and 1987.

John and Jannie cruised the world: to Japan and back; around South America; to the US, Mexico and up the Amazon; to Scandinavia and Russia; to New Zealand via South Africa and back via India.

John sent his first book to 99 agents. 98 said "No"; one said "Self-publish" and Yiannis Books was born.

Greek Walls
an Odyssey in Corfu

"It is said that it is best to see an island from the sea. It is like seeing a girl from a distance. As you get closer her features become clearer: the curves of the mountains, the colours of the hills and the sparkle of the windows in little houses, woken by the rising sun. Nothing could have been better than the sight of Corfu as Jannie and I sailed on the Brindisi ferry through the Corfu Channel early on a June morning in 1966..."
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Corfu Sunset
Avrio Never Comes

"My first job is to check that George has moved his water pipes from my land where the bulldozer will be constructing the road. Not surprisingly, the pipes are still there, just as they were six weeks ago, when he promised to move them to the empty olive grove next door. "Avrio!" he had said. Tomorrow! I go ballistic. Nobody, but nobody, is going to delay the project. If he won't remove them I'll just cut them and throw them next door."
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The Papas and
The Englishman

"When we first announced our intention of buying a house and living in Zagoria, a virtually unknown area of Greece close to the Albanian border, our friends looked at us askance. Clearly they were thinking, "They’re crazed with the spell of far Zagoria. It has stolen their wits away!" Well, if our wits have been ‘stolen away’ we can only say we are a good deal happier without them. Our life here could not be more contented."
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Walking The Corfu Trail
with friends, flowers & food

Three septuagenarians walk 180km of the Corfu Trail in eight days, from 18-30’s Kavos to picturesque Agni. The three oldies photograph flowers and sample Corfiot cuisine. Each day their local guest-walkers tell their stories. The maps and description of their walk will be invaluable for those who want to experience this spectacular and hilarious hike. The photos of the flowers are the first published for the island.
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Venetian Corfu and
Edward Lear's Paintings

We start in Venice, travel through the Corfu Channel and learn about Ottoman invasions, French occupation and a cause of the Cold War. Lear’s Cannon Walk contains 23 locations: the Jewish Quarter, two Venetian forts, Venice like streets, two British palaces and cricket ground, and French arcades. Lear on the Corfu Trail is from Paxos in the south to Corfu’s northern cape where we meet Gerald Durrell. We hear about Democrats and Oligarchs, find where Odysseus landed on Corfu and discuss Global Warming.
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Edward Lear's
Corfu Landscapes

A walk along The Corfu Trail from southern cape to northern cape. Arriving in Corfu Town, Edward Lear wrote: “The double bay came and the vast rocks of St. Angelo and so on and on to below the convent - at 15.5 miles - a wondrous scene of calm sea and massive savage promontory. The beauty of colour and reflection in the convent rocks and bay at early morn is summut wonderful.” We see the landscapes that Edward Lear painted and sketched 100 years before. Today, much is unchanged.
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Irish
Flames

"In that early summer of 1920 the political storm clouds had gathered around Ireland. The dream of Independence, for which the blood of seven centuries had so often flowed, appeared as elusive and remote as ever. Promises, half promises and innuendoes evaporated, leaving first disillusionment, then bitterness and now hostility. A crowning insult had been inflicted upon a harassed and poverty-stricken Ireland, when English jails provided 'soldiers' considered suitable to deal with the Irish question."
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Atlantic
Affair

On Saturday June 14 1930, my Irish father, Otway Waller stayed with his friend and gunrunner, Conor O’Brien, in Foynes, Co. Limerick. Next morning he set sail, along the circumnavigation route taken seven years before by Conor in his yacht Saoirse (Freedom), in his own epic single-handed cruise to the Canary Islands in his 26ft yawl. Returning home on the Yeoward Line s/s Aguila, he fell in love -with my mother. Back in Ireland he had a problem: he was already married with a son, Peter.
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Corfu Sketches
by Theresa Nicholas

Corfu's World Heritage Site and villages, as seen through the eyes of an artist who has lived on the island since 1961. Enjoy five walks: along the Tourist Trail; through the Venetian Old Town to the Mourayia, the sea walls; to the Jewish Quarter and its synagogue; up the hill to the smart end of town and via the Old Port to the market. Then join in the Easter parade. Visit 30 villages, meet their people and see the work they do. Little has changed and this will be a journey you will always treasure.
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Hitch Hiking to India
in 1962

Two Cambridge students hitchhike to India through Tito’s Yugoslavia and Greece, recently under German occupation and then divided by civil war. In Turkey John records the deportation of Armenians to Syria where ISIS is today. In Iran, the CIA coup creates real danger for John. In Amritsar, there is anger over partition, and in Delhi they have tea with Indira Gandhi. John revisits India, discusses the refugee crisis and Syrian Civil War, in the Balkans and lives the Greek tragedy.
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Freedom Books
and Plays

True stories from Ireland to India. Writer John Waller's collection of stories, screenplays, stage plays, TV docudramas, books, biographies, websites and videos covering a wide range of subjects including the war in Ukraine, a garden in lockdown, Vikings in Croydon, the Irish War of Independence, wars in Afghanistan, the CIA coup in Iran, Edward Lear walking and painting in Corfu, sailing across the Atlantic, hitch hiking to India and wearing masks during the Covid pandemic.
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Contact
John Waller

101 Strawberry Vale
Twickenham TW1 4SJ
United Kingdom

phone (+44) 0781 135 1170

email yiannisbooks@aol.com

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