A FORMER Ministry of War interpreter, who moved from Cyprus to London more than 70 years ago, celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends at a Southgate care home at the weekend.

Lela Iaonnidou, who lived in Winchmore Hill until she moved to the Beaumont Care Home, in Cannon Hill, seven years ago, was born in Cyprus on October 8 1912.

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A party with more than 50 guests was held at the care home on Sunday, with relatives flying in from as far afield as California and Sudan – and the following day more guests, including her former GP, met Ms Iaonnidou to wish her many happy returns.

She said: “It was a lovely surprise for me. All my friends came and enjoyed themselves. I did not expect it at all.”

With a grin, she added: “I have problems with my legs, but in my head everything is working just fine.

“People keep saying I’m old but I don’t feel old. I always say I am of advanced age.”

The Iaonnidou family moved to England in 1937 because Lela’s father could not get work on the eastern Mediterranean island.

She worked as a Greek to English interpreter for the Ministry of War during World War II. After the war, she took up an interpreter role with the British Council and also worked as a freelance broadcast journalist with the BBC.

An enthusiastic self-taught dressmaker since the age of nine, in 1949 Ms Iaonnidou was asked to make costumes for a ballet production which landed her a job as couture supervisor at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo.

There she met the actress Vivien Leigh, for whom she made a dress which was so liked by her husband, Laurence Olivier, that he bought Ms Iaonnidou a bouquet of flowers.

Her niece Andre Chris said: “She was in hospital for three months this year but she has so much strength of character she has pulled right through.

“She still goes on holiday to Cyprus twice a year, travelling on the plane by herself.”

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