From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pytheas (Πυθέας) is the first known Greek to come to Britain. Later, many Greeks arrived with the Roman legions as soldiers and traders. Successive arrivals came to the island as sailors, merchants, missionaries, later as mercenaries (especially after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453) and subsequently as students during Ottoman rule. The first organised Greek Orthodox Community was established in London in the 1670s. In the 19th century, Greeks settled mostly in the port cities of London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. More than two hundred thousand (200,000) Greeks from Cyprus and mainland Greece are estimated to reside in Great Britain.
[edit] Population numbers
There are no official statistics on the number of Greeks and Greek Cypriots in Great Britain. It is generally recognised that the majority live in the Greater London region. According to a Corporation of London sponsored report[1], there are between 28,600-31,000 Greek speakers in Greater London. The study also reports that out of a total 896,743 London schoolchildren, 0.71% come from a Greek-speaking home. There is currently no census of persons of Greek origin who use English as the home language.
There is also a considerable number of Greek students studying in the UK. According to official UK Higher Education Statistics Agency results (link here) for the 2005/2006 academic year, there were just under 18,000 Greek students in the UK. This was third only behind Chinese and Indian students.
[edit] List of notable British Greeks
- Chris Achilleos, fantasy artist
- Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, United Kingdom Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
- Peter Andre, (*1973), British-born musician
- Angela Bowie, (* 1950), model, actress, musician
- Al Bowlly,(1899-1941), vocalist
- Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933), poet, Greek descent, Egyptian-born, naturalised British citizen
- Jake and Dinos Chapman, (Jake b. 1966) (Dinos b. 1962) British artists
- Tina Charles, disco singer
- Andrea Christofidou, British philosopher
- Caryl Churchill , writer (Greek grandmother)
- Antony Costa, (*1981), musician, Blue (boy band)
- George Coulouris, (1903-1989), actor
- King Constantine, (*1940), formerly Constantine II, King of the Hellenes}
- Barry Evangeli, music producer for such artists as Gloria Gaynor
- Stelios Giannakopoulos, (*1974), soccer player (Bolton Wanderers)
- Stelios Haji-Ioannou, (*1967), owner of easyGroup and founder of easyJet
- Stel Pavlou (*1970) Author and Screenwriter
- Alec Issigonis, (1906-1988), designer of cars and creator of the Austin Mini
- Alex Kapranos, (*1972), Lead Singer of Franz Ferdinand
- Mick Karn (*1958), bassist for Japan and solo musician
- Panos Karnezis, (*1967), author
- Sophia Kokosalaki, (*1972), fashion designer
- Alexis Korner, (1928-1984), the father of British rhythm and blues
- Kristian Leontiou, singer
- George Melachrino , composer - conductor
- George Michael, (*1963), born Georgios Kyriakos Panayiotou, musician
- Peter Paphides, music journalist
- Theo Paphitis, entrepreneur
- Linda Papadopoulos, Canadian-born celebrity psychologist
- Janet Paraskeva, administrator who was appointed as the First Civil Service Commissioner
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, (*1921), the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark
- Georgios Samaras, (*1985), soccer player (Manchester City)
- Marina Sirtis , (*1960), actress, Counselor Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Cat Stevens, (*1948), born Stephen Demetre Georgiou, musician; new name: Yusuf Islam
- Tony Windsor, (1921-1985), radio producer – broadcaster
- Alex Zane, stand-up comedian, MTV UK presenter and XFM DJ.
- Stephanie Leonidas, actress
- Michael Angelis, actor and narrator of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
- James Alexandrou, actor playing Martin Fowler in EastEnders
- Peter Polycarpou, actor best known for playing 'Chris' in BBC's 'Birds of a Feather'
- Mark Palios, former FA Chief Executive
[edit] Miscellaneous topics
[edit] References
- ^ Philip Baker & John Eversley, Multilingual Capital, commissioned by Corporation of London, published by Battlebridge 2000.
[edit] External links
British Census: White British
