Have I Got News For You stalwart Ian Hislop could also be a nationwide treasure within the UK for his sardonic sideswipes at energy, however in Greece it’s his spouse Victoria who’s the star. And if the best-selling novelist and Hellenophile wasn’t already acquainted for her ardent assist of her adopted nation’s heritage, she actually is now.

Her latest look on the Greek equal of Strictly Come Dancing has helped flip her right into a family title.

“On Greek TV and radio I was already a ‘rent-a-Greek-speaker’ on all topics. The Greeks enjoy having the support of the British and are very pleased to have voices from Britain,” explains Victoria, 63.

“I come and go all the time, usually for work, but with the TV show I was here for three months. I got about halfway through.”

Her favorite dance was the salsa. “No competition,” she laughs. “I love Latin dance and I had done a few salsa lessons in the past, although there are never enough chaps. Ian’s no good because although he’s a great dad dancer at parties, he doesn’t like to follow all the rules of ballroom dancing.”

But formal dancing approach isn’t the one topic below dialogue within the Hislop family. A way more thorny matter is that of the contentious Elgin Marbles, named after Lord Elgin, the British aristocrat.

He was chargeable for transport a number of the biggest treasures of antiquity to England – statues of Greek gods and carved frieze panels that after adorned the Parthenon in Athens. They have been on show within the Duveen Gallery on the British Museum because the early 1800s.

“I’ve often upset Greek audiences at my book events by not unrolling a Greek flag and promising to bring them back myself,” says Victoria, who not too long ago attained Greek citizenship. Yet the talk continues to rage over whether or not the priceless sculptures, also referred to as the Parthenon Marbles, must be returned to Athens.

“At every talk I’ve done in Greece over the past ten years, there is always that moment when an audience member asks, ‘And what do you think about the Marbles at the British Museum?’”

Victoria, who first gained superstar standing in Greece following the success of her 2005 novel The Island, tailored into TV sequence To Nisi, used to dread the query.

“It’s basically a challenge to test your love of Greece,” she says.

But whereas she used to insist that the British Museum was the correct place for this “international” treasure, she admits she not feels the identical satisfaction in visiting the gathering or “the thrill” of going up the big steps that she remembers as slightly woman.

“I have always loved the museum and felt lucky I could go there and explore the past. The previous director was very persuasive on the idea that it was a museum of the world, that was free to all.”

However, earlier this yr, Peter Higgs, the British Museum’s curator of Greek collections and sculpture, was allegedly dismissed after the museum realised that gold jewelry, semi-precious stones and glass courting from the fifteenth century BC have been lacking, stolen or broken.

Rumours swirled that some artefacts had been offered on public sale web site eBay. Even earlier than this controversy, Victoria was educating herself on the darkish story behind the Marbles.

“I began to read well-researched books on what Elgin had actually done and I realised that the real story was deeply embarrassing, and it too was nothing other than theft,” she says. “Elgin wasn’t bringing them back for the museum – for you and me, as we had been told. He wanted them for himself as the ultimate souvenirs.

“The truth is that he was given permission in the form of a letter, which was not officially stamped, to take impressions and drawings of the sculptures so that they could be reproduced to decorate his new house.

“He was not given permission to violently hack and saw them off the building. These are matters of fact, not conjecture.”

The brutal train in actual fact took 300 males a complete yr to realize and required “massive bribes” to native guards.

“Elgin’s desire to have these originals for his private house was only thwarted when he returned home and found himself in debt.”

It was then the British Museum paid him £35,000 – lower than half his bills for removing and transport – to assist resolve his cash issues and pay his divorce prices.

“The one unquestionable thing in this long debate is that the British government did hand over money for these priceless objects – just not to their rightful owners. There is not enough space to express all my emotions on the mistreatment of these beautiful objects, but I am now one of the majority of the British population who believe the Sculptures should be returned to Athens,” reveals Victoria.

She is on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, in addition to being patron of a brand new analysis centre for one among Greece’s most vital archaeological websites.

And as a personal citizen, she stays free to be as outspoken as she needs. She desires to see former Tory Chancellor George Osborne, present chairman of the British Museum, “do the right thing”.

She additionally explains that she was provoked into full-bore Marbles activism by none aside from his rival, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“The tipping point for me was when Boris gave his first interview to a European newspaper after becoming Prime Minister. It was a Greek newspaper and inevitably they asked him the £10million question: ‘What about the Marbles?’

“And he said ‘Never, never, never, they belong here [in London]’, and so on. It was on that day that I thought ‘I’m going to join this committee’,” says Victoria, who had really been occupied with doing so for a while. “Interestingly, when Boris was president of the Oxford Union, he was all for returning them.”

This viewpoint was once held by a minority, however now it’s Victoria’s husband who finds himself out of step with most individuals, in line with a YouGov ballot in July 2023 during which 69 % of individuals surveyed now assist the return of the Marbles to Greece.

Victoria met Ian once they have been college students at Oxford.

“In the past, when I went over to the ‘other side’ [in support of the Marbles’ return], Ian and I agreed to disagree, as he and I don’t share the same views on the Sculptures,” she explains.

“We haven’t really talked about it for a while,” she provides breezily, “but this is now a family debate that is to be continued.” This might occur quickly.

Victoria’s newest novel, The Figurine, printed subsequent week, is impressed by the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures.

“I got very interested in the whole international scene of archeological looting – a massive, thriving business that the authorities are constantly trying to get on top of, as well as the right way to deal with illegal collections,” she tells me. And her ire has been provoked additional by the claims of theft on the British Museum. Victoria felt sickened the morning she woke as much as the story.

“It is so close to the campaign I’m involved in,” she says. “It wasn’t just the fact it had happened, but the fact it was covered up.” She says all this has undoubtedly taken her off the fence with regards to the Marbles.

“The British Museum is such a respected institution. Part of the very black-and-white argument for keeping the Marbles here is that they are being looked after. But the theft allegations show that it no longer deserves such respect. Now I’m lobbying constantly for their return.”

Mr Higgs, who has not commented, has not been arrested and could also be harmless. However, this doesn’t diminish the considerations of many who concern that returning priceless artefacts to Greece will open the floodgates, and different museums can even be denuded of their treasures – the skinny finish of the wedge for museums around the globe, because it have been. But Victoria insists the Marbles are a particular case and we should not have any such considerations.

“The Marbles are unique, part of an incomplete jigsaw – the rest of which is housed close to its original home in the Acropolis Museum in Athens,” she explains.

“Completion of the work would be a gift not just to the Greeks, but to the whole world, completing one of the most important artworks ever made.”

She says our having them is like having “half the Mona Lisa”, whereas she factors out that customer surveys have proven how little (eight minutes on common) individuals spend within the Duveen Gallery them. “Returning them would not lead to the emptying of the museum – this is an unfounded fear. The director of the Acropolis Museum told me so himself.”

She insists that their repatriation would make manner for unseen elements of the remaining Greek assortment to be seen for the primary time.

“The British Museum has eight million objects, of which just one percent are on display. There are hundreds of thousands of Greek items which have been legitimately acquired. The Museum could change the displays in the Duveen every day for a year and never run out.”

But she insists that the Greeks won’t ever settle for the concept of a mortgage, which has been one mooted resolution.

“That will simply not happen, because a loan would acknowledge British ownership,” explains Victoria, who believes it’s only a matter of time earlier than the Marbles are lastly returned to Greece.

“There is increasing pressure to return items that were taken during a period of Colonial rule when we had different values. The tide is turning at last.”

• The Figurine by Victoria Hislop (Headline, £25) is printed on Thursday. For free UK P&P, go to expressbookshop.com or name Express Bookshop on 020 3176 3832