The distinguished international author and journalist, Bruce Clark, has recently been awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of Phoenix for services to Greek culture and history will be giving us a talk on the story of the Parthenon sculptures.

Furious rivalry between Britain and France for control of the eastern Mediterranean is the key to understanding how and why that story developed as it did. In the small, gossipy world of late Ottoman Athens, British and French agents vied intensely with one another to unearth, draw, document and ultimately remove the material legacy of ancient Greece. Their success depended on the fluctuating relations of both powers with the Ottoman sultan.

In a narrow sense, Lord Elgin won that contest by shipping the Parthenon marbles to Great Britain – but he was neither the first nor the last in a series of light-fingered antiquarian diplomats who claimed to be serving their countries.

A fascinating and unforgettable story, still hotly contested today, told, with illustrations, by an award-winning journalist and author.

An evening not to be missed!