The British Council’s 90-year history includes many memorable moments and people. Chief Executive, Scott McDonald, takes us on a whistle-stop tour of our timeline:
Happy birthday British Council – 90 years old this year! We were set up in the 1930s in a time of global friction and discord, sadly not unlike today. The new organisation was designed to counter extremist ideas by building understanding and connections between people and sharing and celebrating what they have in common, rather than what divides them.
From the start, we were making a difference, sharing the very best of the UK with the world. Let me take you on a stroll through the last 90 years, you’ll be surprised at the historic moments we’ll experience and the famous people we’ll meet.
The 1930s saw the Great Depression and great economic hardship, leading to a rise in extremist views. The creation of the British Council, led by the UK Foreign Office, aimed to tackle the growing threat to British values, prosperity and security. The first meeting of the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries took place on 5 December 1934. It was renamed the British Council in 1936.
Back in 1935, we find the roots of our art collection, when our arts department used a gift of £1,000 a year from Lord Wakefield to buy drawings and prints. In 1976 the Wakefield Collection, the Institutes Collection and the Permanent Collection were brought together to form the British Council Collection, which now includes over 8,500 works of art.
We set up our first overseas operations in Egypt and Portugal, followed by Poland and Romania in 1938. The organisation has certainly grown since then, now we work with people in more than 200 countries and territories and we're on the ground in over 100 countries.
We organised our very first theatre tour in 1939, taking an Old Vic Theatre Company to Egypt with performances of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Hamlet starring Sir Alec Guinness.
‘The work of the British Council is the indispensable ally of foreign policy.’ - Anthony Eden, when UK Foreign Secretary
Due to the Second World War, we closed many offices overseas, but our work was seen as an important part of the British war effort. In centres across Britain we offered practical support to refugees and Allied service personnel.
During the war we began production of 120 British films, to showcase modern Britain and counteract Nazi propaganda. The films were originally shown in cinemas, but they are still available to view today on YouTube.
1940 saw us gain our Royal Charter, and open our first school, El Colegio Britanico, in Madrid. Today, 80 years on, the school is still going strong.
Jamaican icon, much-loved poet and performer Louise Bennett, Miss Lou, won a British Council scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1945. She went on to enjoy a successful career in the arts, hosting radio shows for the BBC, and appearing in theatre productions and numerous films, including A High Wind in Jamaica.
We commissioned and then refused to publish George Orwell’s famous essay In Defence of English Cooking, written in 1946. Allegedly Orwell’s recipe for orange marmalade contained ‘too much sugar and water’. Many years later we did rectify our mistake by publishing the original essay, British Cookery, in full on our website.
In 1955 we launched 'The Poet Speaks' a project to showcase the work of leading poets from across the UK, including world-famous 20th century poets such as Philip Larkin, WH Auden, Sylvia Plath and Louis MacNeice.
We commissioned the Marlowe Dramatic Society at Cambridge University to record the entire works of Shakespeare in 1957. The recordings were mainly made with unknown actors, but many of the actors went on to become stars of stage and screen, including Prunella Scales, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Trevor Nunn and Sir Ian McKellen.
‘The more I saw of the British Council, the more I admired its work.’ - Dr Charles Hill, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Our first collaboration with the BBC was an English teaching TV programme, Walter and Connie, which was broadcast in 1962. The series featured a host of British actors from stage and screen, with famous British comedy actress Hattie Jacques starring in one episode. Its 39 episodes were seen in 50 countries around the world.
We launched the first English proficiency test for students coming to study in the UK in 1965. Today we are one of the world’s leaders in English language teaching and testing, delivering thousands of exams and lessons around the world, opening up new study and career opportunities for our students.
We work in many areas of the world where there is discord, but we continue our work for as long as it is safe to do so. If we are forced to withdraw, we return as soon as possible. This means that our history has not been without tragedy. Sadly, in 1971, police guards were killed protecting our Fuller Road office in Dhaka during Bangladesh’s liberation war. More lives were tragically lost during the Taliban attack on our office in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011. We will always be grateful to the people who have stood with us against those who will go to the most violent ends to disrupt our work.
‘The British Council did more for me as an artist than any dealer.’ - Henry Moore, Artist.
We organised one of our most successful exhibitions ever in 1972, an exhibition of Henry Moore’s work in Florence, Italy, which attracted more than 250,000 visitors.
We went 'To Russia with Jazz' in 1977, when we supported the UK's National Youth Jazz Orchestra on their tour of Russia. Unfortunately, due to the political situation in Russia today, we can no longer work there, but we hope that one day we will be able to return.
In 1986 Sir Malcolm Bradbury chaired our first Literature Seminar in Cologne, Germany. He was the first of many leading names in UK literature to chair the seminar, including Caryl Phillips, AS Byatt, Andrew Motion, Ali Smith and Bernardine Evaristo.
The fall of communist regimes in the nineties led to a demand for English language teaching and wider training, and by 1995 we had set up new British Council offices, projects and English resource centres in most countries of the former Soviet Union.
We also worked to help young people in former communist countries discover a new world of culture with events such as Rock for Romania, which was hosted by Britain’s much-loved BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Nightingale.
In 1993 we were asked by Nelson Mandela’s new government in South Africa to provide skills training to those who were previously excluded from official work because of Apartheid. This followed a similar request from Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at the end of the Civil War in Ethiopia.
‘The challenge of achieving a lasting and sustainable peace necessarily means strengthening our culture and education. And who better than the British Council to support us in this mission?’ - Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Rachel Whiteread became the first woman to be selected for a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1997. She was one of many world-famous artists whose work we have showcased since we took over the festival’s British Pavilion in 1937, including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Bridget Riley, Steve McQueen and Sonia Boyce. Sonia won the festival’s top prize in 2022, the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. Our arts team have put together a fascinating history of the Biennale, the British Pavilion and the British Council's involvement.
‘I am not exaggerating when I say that working with the British Council has been a career highlight. So much has changed for me consequently.’ - Dame Sonia Boyce
We are always glad to return to countries where we have had to cease operations in the past and in 2000, after 28 years, we reopened our office in Tripoli, Libya, rebuilding relationships with the country. By 2010, we were working with the Libyan government to develop and run language centres in Libyan universities.
The terrorist attacks in America on 9 September 2001 brought renewed attention to the importance of building understanding between different countries and cultures. In response, we set up Connecting Futures, which brings together young people from the UK, Middle East, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. We also launched the 9/11 Scholarship Fund for dependants of victims of the attacks.
We started our incredibly successful social leadership training programme Active Citizens in 2009. In 12 years, we trained more than 380,000 people, in over 80 countries, who went on to launch over 17,000 projects in their own communities.
‘The British Council library was more than just a place to find books, it was also a refuge of quiet, a sanctuary of culture and learning.’ - Kamila Shamsie, British-Pakistani author and one of Granta magazine’s 20 best young British writers.
The first of our seasons celebrating cultural connections between the UK and other countries took place in South Africa during 2013. We have since produced seasons and festivals in Australia, Germany, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam. This year we created UK/France Spotlight on Culture 'Together We Imagine' - a diverse cultural programme of over 50 activities that celebrated the relationship between France and the UK, which ran alongside the Olympics in France. Coming soon UK/Brazil, UK/Kenya and UK/Poland!
Every year since 2015, in partnership with the British Film Institute’s Flare Film Festival, we have produced Five Films for Freedom, our online celebration of LGBTQIA+ stories. We share five short films over a 12-day period and since the first edition, over 23 million people have watched the films in more than 200 countries and territories.
We had to work quickly to move our activities online when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world in 2020. We offered our English lessons online and developed remote invigilation services, and we found ways to continue our cultural work by connecting artists and creative professionals online.
‘Creativity is one of Britain’s superpowers, and the British Council is the biggest cheerleader of this precious talent.’ - Thomas Heatherwick, Designer
We launched our Climate Connection programme in 2021, taking it to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow. The Climate Connection brings people around the world together to meet the challenges of climate change through arts and culture, education and English language. It has become a regular feature of COP conferences and this year we organised a range of activities at COP29 in Azerbaijan.
We plan our seasons well in advance and everything was in place for our UK/Ukraine season, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 meant we had to quickly revise our plans. We were determined the season should go ahead and we worked with the Ukrainian Institute to ensure the season was a platform to strengthen Ukraine's cultural and artistic voice in the UK.
‘Your work equips people with the skills they need, brings people together, and builds trust making our planet at the end of the day a more harmonious and prosperous place for all.’ - His Majesty King Charles III
The British Council has been honoured to have a Royal Patron since His Royal Highness Prince Edward, The Prince of Wales became our first royal Patron in 1935. In 2024 His Majesty King Charles III became our patron, succeeding Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who had served as Patron since 1952.
Celebrations for our anniversary year have included our new programme 90 Youth Voices, which is creating an international network of change makers, passionate about tackling the global challenges affecting the world today.
We have also developed Oral Histories: the British Council in Action, an audio archive featuring the stories and experiences of artists, educators and colleagues from the UK and around the world. The collection is being archived at the British Library as part of the UK National Sound Collection. Neatly it will join a sister collection compiled as part of our 75th anniversary, which is already archived at the Library.
We are an organisation with a rich history, of which we are very proud, but our focus is on the future as we know our work is as vital today as it was 90 years ago. These are some of our aims for the future, firmly rooted in the original vision for the British Council back in the 1930s, but focused on the needs of today’s increasingly interconnected yet volatile world:
• We want to help rebuild bridges and connections with our closest neighbours, particularly across Europe.
• Give young people a voice, skills and agency, supporting them in both good times and more turbulent times.
• Sow connections rather than divisions, working on social cohesion, mutual understanding, and cultural exchange.
• Nurture partnerships to support growth in the UK and around the world, focusing on employability, enterprise and inclusive economies
• Work with individuals, institutions and governments on the challenges of the day and of the future, including quality of education, climate change and inclusion.
• Share the skills and creativity of a modern and innovative UK with the world.
From the UK to the world, and from the world to the UK, together we have the power to unlock opportunities to shape a more peaceful and prosperous future for all. As we celebrate our anniversary, we look forward to another 90 years of creating connections and friendships for the UK.