ABSTRACT
This chapter tracks the escalation of British interest in re-establishing the British Council's Athens branch in 1945 and upgrading it to a Grade I post. Several proposals for cultural activities were put forward in 1945 to be undertaken by the British Council in Greece. The British Council had recognized early the significant role played by educational issues and cultural exchanges in the post-war period by organizing the Allied Conference of Ministers of Education (CAME) in London in 1943. For more than a year after the liberation, the British Council's functions were carried out by the Anglo-Greek Information Service (AGIS). On the eve of the crisis of December 1944 Sir Reginald Leeper presented in a letter to the Foreign Office the significance of re-activating the British Council as a factor in creating a climate favourable to Britain. As the British Council was due to reopen in the autumn it was 'extremely urgent' that a permanent representative be appointed.
