News on Screen

Felix Yiaxis was a Cypriot cameraman based in Nicosia, who in May 1946 supplied the Pathe News with film of a local skiing competition - although it does not seem to have been used in the reel. By September 1953, when he supplied ‘EARTHQUAKE HITS CYPRUS’ for British Paramount News No.2353, Yiaxis’s headed notepaper claimed that he represented not only British Paramount News but also the BBC and NBC television companies. In July 1956 Yiaxis also supplied film for ‘LORD RADCLIFFE CALLS ON MAYOR OF NICOSIA’ in British Paramount News No.2651, and in April 1957 he provided ‘CYPRIOTS REJOICE’ for British Movietone News No.1452A, and ‘CYPRUS RELAXES’ for No.1454A. He provided Movietone with other stories from Cyprus, and in August 1960 worked as assistant cameraman to Andre Persin [qv] of Movietone, filming President Makarios for ‘THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS’ in British Movietone News No.1628a. Peter Hampton [qv] recalled that Yiaxis was the cameraman who filmed the arrest of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo for ‘LUMUMBA - VIOLENT REACTION’ in No.1655 of February 1961. The material was so sensitive that Yiaxis cut the film into 50ft sections, and smuggled it out of the country in empty peanut tins.

According to Terry Gallacher [qv], Yiaxis became a staff cameraman for United Press in its various associations as UPMT, UPIN, and UPITN. He covered Cyprus and the middle east, working on assignments in Aden and Israel. Movietone had links with United Press until it joined with ITN in June 1967, and Yiaxis provided occasional footage for British Movietone News, including film from Jordan of King Hussein’s wedding for ‘HUSSEIN WEDS TONI’ in No.1669 of May 1961, general scenic shots for ‘CYPRUS - YEAR-ROUND HOLIDAY’ in No.1711 of March 1962, and film of British troops on Cyprus for ‘OVERSEAS TO SUNSHINE’ in No.1749 of December 1962. Gallacher recalled of Yiaxis that ‘in the late seventies he was involved in an horrific road accident while being driven from Suez to Cairo carrying rushes of a routine newsfilm story’: ‘He never worked as a cameraman again although he made a partial recovery from his injuries.' Yiaxis was also a governor of the Royal Masonic Hospital in London.

Sources

British Paramount News file for Issue 2651: BUFVC, T.M. Gallacher, ‘Additional Notes,' October 1998: Information from Peter Hampton, March 1999.