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British Council History

The British Council is a British organization that specializes in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works to promote knowledge of the UK and English language in over 100 countries through cultural, scientific, and educational cooperation. The British Council is governed by a Royal Charter and sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was established in 1934 as the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries and officially became the British Council in 1936. Throughout its history it has opened offices globally and faced some attacks and closures due to geopolitical tensions.

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173 views2 pages

British Council History

The British Council is a British organization that specializes in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works to promote knowledge of the UK and English language in over 100 countries through cultural, scientific, and educational cooperation. The British Council is governed by a Royal Charter and sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was established in 1934 as the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries and officially became the British Council in 1936. Throughout its history it has opened offices globally and faced some attacks and closures due to geopolitical tensions.

Uploaded by

Jay Alexander
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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British Council

The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational
opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and
the English language; encouraging cultural, scientific, technological and educational co-operation with
the United Kingdom.

The British Council is governed by a Royal Charter. It is also a public corporation and an executive
nondepartmental public body (NDPB), sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Its
headquarters are near Trafalgar Square. Its chairman is Christopher Rodrigues, its CEO is Sir Ciarán
Devane and its chief operating officer is Adrian Greer.

History

1934: British Foreign Office officials created the "British Committee for Relations with Other Countries"
to support English education abroad, promote British culture and fight the rise of fascism.[2] The name
quickly became British Council for Relations with Other Countries.

1936: The organisation’s name was officially shortened to the British Council.

1938: The British Council opens its first four offices in Bucharest (Romania), Cairo (Egypt), Lisbon
(Portugal) and Warsaw (Poland). The offices in Portugal are currently the oldest in continuous operation
in the world.

1940: King George VI granted the British Council a Royal Charter for promoting "a wider knowledge of
[the United Kingdom] and the English language abroad and developing closer cultural relations between
[the UK] and other countries".

1942: The British Council undertook a promotion of British culture overseas. The music section of the
project was a recording of significant recent compositions by British composers: E.J. Moeran's Symphony
in G minor was the first work to be recorded under this initiative, followed by recordings of Walton's
Belshazzar's Feast, Bliss's Piano Concerto, Bax's Third Symphony, and Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.
British Council in Madrid (Spain).

1944: In August, after the liberation of Paris, Austin Gill was sent by the council to reestablish the Paris
office, which soon had tours by the Old Vic company, Julian Huxley and T. S. Eliot.

2007: The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the British Council to close its offices outside Moscow. The
Ministry alleged that it had violated Russian tax regulations, a move that British officials claimed was a
retaliation over the British expulsion of Russian diplomats allegedly involved with the poisoning of
Alexander Litvinenko. This caused the British Council to cease carrying out all English-language
examinations in Russia from January 2008. In early 2009, a Russian arbitration court ruled that the
majority of the tax claims, valued at $6.6 million, were unjustified.

2011: On 19 August, a group of armed men attacked the British Council office in the Afghanistan capital,
Kabul, killing at least 12 people – none of them British – and temporarily took over the compound. All
the attackers were killed in counter-attacks by forces guarding the compound. The British Council office
was relocated to the British Embassy compound, as the British Council compound was destroyed in the
suicide attack.

2013: The British Council in Tripoli, Libya, was targeted by a car bomb on the morning of 23 April.
Diplomatic sources were reported as saying that "the bombers were foiled as they were preparing to
park a rigged vehicle in front of the compound gate". The attempted attack was simultaneous with the
attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli on the same day that injured two French security guards, one
severely, and wounded several residents in neighbouring houses. A jihadist group calling itself the
Mujahedeen Brigade was suspected possibly linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

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