In 1961, however, he was one of many conservatives who joined the Center Union (EK), in opposition to the corruption of right-wing governments at the time. In 1964, after EK came into power, he became Speaker of the Greek Parliament.
Athanasiadis-Novas also wrote some poetry and prose. Literary critics found very little in the way of value in his works, but he found some popularity among his detractors, who used them to ridicule his less-than-distinguished political career. The stanza:
Itan ta stithia sou
aspra san galata
kai mou 'leges:
gargala ta
Your breasts were
White as milk
And you urged me
"Tickle them!"
gained him the comical nickname "Gargalatas", Tickler. Only after 40 years has it been proven that the fact that he wrote this stanza was an urban legend. It all started from an article of Costas Stamatiou at the newspaper Ta Nea, with the intention to ridicule him. Lefteris Papadopoulos cleared up the situation with an article at the same newspaper in 2004.
