"British Museum is preparing to GIVE UP our heritage" | David Starkey Talks... to archaeologist

This week I've taken a break from politics to talk about something equally close to my heart. Where I live in London is close to that cherished institution, the British Museum, and there is growing concern that the museum is closing in on a deal that would see its greatest treasure shipped out of the country forever.

This is the work of that infernal character George Osborne, who took over as Chair of the British Museum in 2021. Having been thwarted in his political ambitions, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer now tours the land looking for the plummiest sinecures the British Establishment can offer.

The demand by the Greek government for the return of the Elgin Marbles, those marble friezes that adorned the Parthenon Temple in ancient Athens, has no legal or moral basis. But George Osborne sees this thorniest question of international culture as the perfect exercise by which he can demonstrate his political dexterity.

Except that the deal he is currently negotiating would, in all but name, be a wholesale capitulation to Greek demands that would see the Marbles leave the Museum, where tens of thousands of international visitors can look at them every week, never to return. Essentially, having cloaked himself with the respectablity that a role at the British Museum provides, Osborne is seeking to diminish the value of the institution over which he has been given stewardship.

My guest on this subject is a classical archaeologist and a ferocious defender of the British Museum's right to hold the Elgin Marbles. Mario Trabucco della Toretta's reputation on this subject is such that, just last month, he was banned from the Acropolis Museum in Athens. In this episode, we sought to provide the proper historical context for Lord Elgin's removal of the marbles from Athens, an act which was motivated entirely by the desire to preserve them for future generations and have them recorded in the annals of civilisation without any further damage. Enjoy the episode!