Stavros Niarchos Foundation Lecture: "Critical Decade: Politics, War and Schism in Venizelos's Greece, 1910-1920"

Sir Llewellyn-Smith will deliver the 2012-2013 Stavros Niarchos Foundation Lecture. Sir Llewellyn-Smith is the author of four books with themes in Greek history and culture. “The Great Island” is a book about the history, culture and folklore of the island of Crete, reflecting his travels and researches there in the early 1960s. “Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor 1919-1922” is the story of Greece’s ill-fated venture into Asia Minor, ending with the destruction of Smyrna and the end of the ancient Greek communities of Asia Minor. “Olympics in Athens 1896: the Invention of the Modern Olympic Games” is the story of how the young Greek state and the city of Athens developed rapidly to a point at which they found it possible to host successfully the first modern Games. “Athens: a Cultural and Literary History” presents the life and culture of the city of Athens across the centuries, explaining how the modern city copes with its ancient heritage. Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1970 and served in it for thirty years, in Moscow, Paris, Warsaw and Athens as well as London. He was British Ambassador in Poland from 1991-96 and in Greece from 1996-99. As student, teacher, diplomat and traveller he has spent more than eleven years in Greece.

Speaker: Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith, Visiting Professor, King’s College London