The Anglo-Hellenic League was founded in the aftermath of the 1912-13 Balkan Wars in order to counter anti-Greek propaganda in the United Kingdom. Dedicated to promoting Anglo-Greek understanding and friendship, the League has a long history of charitable and cultural work. After the first World War, through John Gennadius, a co-founder and Honorary President, the League took a leading role in establishing the Koraes Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King’s College London. During the Second World War the League raised funds for the starving Greek population and for the Greek Navy and the Merchant Marine. In the immediate post war years the League gave assistance to a children’s home, a hospital in Athens and to war-ravaged villages in remote parts of Greece and gave similar help to the southern Ionian Islands after the 1953 earthquakes. In 1979/80 the League raised over £80,000 towards the ‘Save the Acropolis’ Appeal. In 1986 it established the Runciman Award, an annual prize given for a book or books on some aspect of the Hellenic scene.

The Anglo-Hellenic League, a registered charity, has always been strictly apolitical. From its inception it has benefited from royal patronage, while the Greek and British Ambassadors en poste are patrons. Members receive the League’s distinguished publication, The Anglo-Hellenic Review and enjoy a regular programme of exhibitions and lectures by experts on various aspects of Greek culture throughout the year.

Charitable and cultural activities of the League:

• The Runciman Award

This annual prize, organised by the League, is awarded each year to a book or books, wholly or mainly about some aspect of Greece or the world of Hellenism, published in the first English edition in the United Kingdom or Greece. It is named in honour of Sir Steven Runciman, the distinguished historian and the League’s longest-serving Chairman.

• The Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award .

This Award, first presented in June 2002, is funded by the League. It is given annually to an undergraduate at King’s College London for an essay on any field of Hellenic Studies.