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Finding Bernard Millerby Mike Rook  Bernard Miller Bernard Miller and I go back a long way and I have no doubt that finding him in Crete will be a mammoth task, requiring more luck than research. Bernard and I first met in Rhodesia during the 1970's, and we saw that country's transition into Zimbabwe, April 1980. We worked together on The financial Gazette, a weekly newspaper then edited by Robert Haynes and owned by Perscor in South Africa Bernard subsequently joined the Rhodesian Farmer magazine, renamed "The Farmer" after the country's independence. When Bernard became Managing Editor at The Farmer he gave me a job and I joined him there. Whilst with The Farmer Bernard co-authored a book, Farmer at War. In the early 1980's Bernard and his wife Barbara decided to relocate to the United Kingdom. They settled in Windsor and Bernard joined a local weekly newspaper as a sub editor. Some years later Bernard and Barbara bought a property in Crete, and moved there as permanent residents. I do know that at one time a landslide ruined there garden, which tells me their home is situated somewhere at the bottom of a Crete hillside. Not much to assist in finding him, but at least a clue. I was eventually appointed Chief Executive Officer of Modern Farming Publications and I stayed on in the newly independent Zimbabwe, overseeing agricultural publications that serviced the white farming community. At the turn of the millennium Zimbabwe's government commenced its violent campaign of ethnic cleansing, and by early 2002 most of the white community producing food and export crops had been arbitrarily evicted from their farms. Modern Farming Publications was forced into closure as its readership became decimated. I then worked from my home in Zimbabwe’s capital city Harare, on a freelance basis. At that time Zimbabwe's economy was in free fall and collapsing rapidly. Considerable unbudgeted expenditure by its government, coupled with the destruction of agriculture, devalued the Zimbabwe dollar to such an extent that savings and pensions were rendered worthless. In fact today the Zimbabwe dollar is extinct, and replaced by the South African rand, the US dollar or the British pound. I exited Zimbabwe with my teenage son and two suitcases March 2006, and am now comfortably domiciled in south east England. Yes, finding Bernard will result in a great reunion. We have much to catch up with since our Zimbabwe farewell. Perhaps Bernard will come across this article himself and make contact, or perhaps someone in Crete that knows him and reads this story will alert him. Who knows! It’s a long shot but then so was Finding Private Ryan, a popular movie that I'm sure has circulated in Crete. Kind Regards, PS. If you have any information about Bernard Miller, please (Mike Rook)
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