[2][3] John Stefanidis was born in Cairo, Egypt, to Alexandrine Greek parents, Panayotis Constantinos Stefanidis and Eliane Sophie Mordo, both of whose grandmothers were born on the Ionian island of Corfu; Panayotis Petsalis in a devout Greek Orthodox family, and Eliane’s grandmother, née Viterbo, in a Sephardic Jewish family.
Taking a job with BOAC (British Overseas Airlines Corporation), Eliane and her son embarked on a seaplane that landed on the Nile in Khartoum, where they spent the night before boarding a Dakota aircraft for Asmara, where they were met by a very surprised Panayotis.
Although he worked in the capital, Asmara, John and his mother lived in Massawa on the Red Sea, in a cool, trellised house with verandahs, built in the Italian style, with gazelles in the garden to entertain his young son.
As a child, John was ferried around in a ‘calessino,’ a racy horse-drawn carriage, the obliging driver in khaki uniform and dashing red tarboosh.
His Arabic was so good, which was most unusual for a non-Egyptian, that he went regularly to the popular Egyptian theatre, reminiscent of Goldoni in its wits and exuberance, and over the years relentlessly marched his nephew through the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, instilling in him an avidity for history and the cultures of the past.
In an interview, John recalls that, "The school was very cosmopolitan, with Armenians, Greeks, Saudis, Syrians, Lebanese, German, Chinese, as well as the Egyptian elite, who were Muslims, Christians, Copts and Jews.
Beneath the fortified eleventh-century Byzantine monastery of St John the Theologian is the ancient village of Chora where Millington-Drake and Stefanidis bought and restored a house.
Private commissions include: Princess Aida Abdul Aziz, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia His Excellency Mr. Ali Jeddah, London and Surrey Mr. and Mrs. John Angelicoussis, Athens Mr. William L. Bernhard, New York and Patmos M. and Mme.