Lord Byron has been described as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know", but there is an other reason - besides his  regular escapades - why the British may have deemed this famous poet to be 'wicked'. Byron was a bitter opponent of Lord Elgin's removal of the Parthenon marbles from Greece, and "reacted with fury" when Elgin's agent gave him a tour of the Parthenon, during which he saw the missing friezes and metopes. He penned a poem, the Curse of Minerva, to denounce Elgin's actions. Although Byron never intended to publish this poem, a copy was stolen from him and printed without his approval.

The Oxford Union is a world-famous debating society which is often addressed by eminent people. In June 1986 the topic for debate was the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. This is a long file and we recommend that you download it to your hard disk for reading offline. It is well worth the effort. We would like to thank the Melina Mercouri Foundation for providing the transcript of this speech.