Luke died on 6 May 2025.  We have lost a major figure in the ELT profession.  But for those who knew him, we have also lost a dear, compassionate, gifted and generous friend.

Luke gained a BA from Bristol University in English with Greek, then an MA in Shakespeare Studies from Birmingham, a Dip. TEFL from Leeds and a PhD from Nottingham.

He worked for the British Council in Thessaloniki from 1977-2000, before moving to university teaching there.  He was an active member of IATEFL for many years, and a supporter of TESOL Greece in the difficult early days.  He was a charismatic speaker, in great demand at conferences in many countries.  He also published some 20 highly influential course-books, including Dealing With Difficulties (with Lindsay Clanfield), which won the Ben Warren Prize in 2006 and the English Speaking Union prize in 2007 - and Grammar and Vocabulary for Cambridge First Certificate. 

In 2008 he also published a major contribution to the ELF debate based on his PhD thesis: English as a Lingua Franca (Continuum).  With his bi-cultural background, he was uniquely well-placed for this, and his corpora-based study was remarkable for its focus on idiomaticity as a problematic factor in proficient L2 user language.

So much for the dry facts.  But the man was so much more than the sum of his career achievements.  

He was generous with his time and understanding of younger colleagues, both supporting and inspiring them.  Many would concur with Russell Stannard’s recollection of him: 

'Luke was a real inspiration to me. He took me under his wing, gave me lots of support and encouragement and often came to my talks. I felt very lucky to know him. A conversation with Luke was always a real treat. He was among the brightest people I have ever met and whether we were talking about politics, ELT or Shakespeare, I always learnt so much’.

And quite apart from his extensive knowledge in his fields of expertise, he was also very erudite in general and interested in all kinds of political and social issues – from the position of women in society, to the potentially detrimental effect of some aspects of technology on our society, to the great tragedies unfolding before our eyes today in the Ukraine and in Gaza.  His heart was in the right place.

His lifelong, passionate interest was in Shakespeare. And in particular in the vexed question of just who wrote Shakespeare’s plays.  Even in the last year of his life, even while he was suffering the cruelly degrading deterioration of Motor-Neurone Disease (ALS), he continued to give highly stimulating webinars on the subject.  

He was also passionate about the theatre and the value of performance, and co-founded the English Language Voice Theatre.  (Those who knew him will recall the extraordinary expressive quality of his voice!).  He also organised a number of public dramatized readings for TESOL Greece, and TESOL Macedonia-Thrace, and with his partner, Vicky Saran, directed a number of plays performed by high-school students in Chania, Crete, where he had settled in retirement.  

Anyone who worked with him will recall his commitment to ‘getting it right’, his warmth and supportive guidance, and his intelligence in interpretation.  He cared.  He cared about the production but also about the players.  It is this generosity of spirit which marked him out: that and the dignity and fortitude with which he faced his final illness.

Let Luke’s beloved Shakespeare have the last word:

His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, ‘This was a man!’

                                                         Julius Caesar, Act 5, Scene 5.

With thanks to Lilika Couri, ex Chair of TESOL Greece, and Nick Michelioudakis for their help with background details.