The Elgin Marbles are a collection of ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other parts of the Acropolis in Athens that were removed from Ottoman Greece from 1801 to 1812 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and are now in the British Museum in London. Elgin claimed at the time that he had the permission of Ottoman officials to remove the marble works, but this is disputed.
Sunak is now willing to “lend" the works to a Greek museum, but only if British ownership of them is recognised — something the Greeks will not do easily.
Who plays second fiddle?
When Albert Einstein toured the US in 1931, then still a German citizen, Charlie Chaplin was reportedly the only Hollywood star he wanted to meet. Their first conversation went like this:
Einstein: “What I most admire about your art is your universality. You don't say a word, yet the world understands you."
Chaplin: “True. But your glory is even greater. The whole world admires you, even though they don't understand a word of what you say."
The two became great friends and they had something else in common: both were skilled violinists.
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