Due to technical issues the Webinar Event with acclaimed actor, author and phillhelene Stephen Fry has been rescheduled for tomorrow Friday, 6 August 2021, at 11am Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). The webinar will be live from Los Angeles, where Stephen is currently filming.
In this milestone year for Greece, marking 200 years since the commencement of the Greek War of Independence, Stephen was honoured with the title Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix, one of the highest honours bestowed by the Hellenic Republic upon those who have excelled in their field of practice or public life and have helped raise Greece’s prestige internationally.
We applaud Stephen for his support and love of Greece – his literary works on Greek mythology, his campaigning for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, and for recognising the strength and resolve of the Greek people.
Stephen will be interviewed by David Hill, also a philhellene and a generous supporter of THI Australia’s efforts in Greece. David was the inaugural chair of the International Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures for ten years and is the current Chair of the Australian Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures.
The Hellenic Initiative Australia is a not-for-profit organisation and part of a global movement, The Hellenic Initiative, bringing together the Greek Diaspora and Philhellenes in support Greece and its people.
Registration is essential. Please click the link below to register.
About the Speakers
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry is an English author, actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, broadcaster, podcaster and film director.
Whilst at university, Fry became involved with the Cambridge Footlights, where he met his long-time collaborator and friend Hugh Laurie. As half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and took the role of Jeeves (with Laurie playing Wooster) in Jeeves and Wooster.
Fry’s acting roles include an award-winning performance as Oscar Wilde in the 1997 film Wilde, Melchett in the BBC television series Blackadder, Peter Kingdom in the television series Kingdom, Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V for Vendetta, Mycroft Holmes in Warner Brothers’ Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Master of Laketown in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit. He played a Georgian presidential candidate in HBO’s Veep and Roland in CBS’ series The Great Indoors. He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award-winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, and was the long-time host of the BBC television quiz show QI. He played Prime Minister Alistair Davies in the 9th season of Fox TV’s 24: Live Another Day.
As a proudly out gay man, the award-winning Out There, documenting the lives of lesbian, bisexual gay and transgender people around the world is part of his thirty year advocacy of the rights of the LGBT community. He has been President of Mind, Britain’s largest mental health charity, since 2011 and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists for over ten years.
As well as his work in television, Fry has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, appears frequently on radio, reads for voice-overs and has written three volumes of autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and his latest, More Fool Me.
Fry has written four novels, The Liar, The Hippopotamus (made in to a feature film in 2018), Making History and The Stars’ Tennis Balls. Translated into many languages, they have never been out of print.
He has won many prizes for his performances as an audiobook narrator – of his own works and most notably as the voice of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books.
His book on poetic form The Ode Less Travelled is widely used in schools and colleges as a guide to prosody.
The most recently published works are Mythos and Heroes, constituting the first two parts of what will be a trilogy retelling the Greeks myths from the Creation to the aftermath of the Trojan War. Troy will be published in November 2020.
Stephen’s most recent television role in 2021 was Tory MP Arthur Garrison in Russel T. Davies’s highly acclaimed series for Channel 4, It’s A Sin.
David Hill
David Hill is a proud philhellene and has held a range of senior leadership positions including Chairman then Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia’s national broadcaster (1986 – 1995), President of the Australian F.A. (1995 – 1998, and recruited Terry Venables as the Australian manager), CEO of the State Rail Australia Authority, Australia’s largest rail network (1980 – 1986) and the author of 9 books, mostly dealing with Australian history.
He has been heavily involved in the campaign for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures for more than twenty years and is the current Chair of the Australians for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures. He has served as Executive Director of the British Committee (2000 – 2004) and Chair of the International Association for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures for ten years (2006 – 2016).
The Parthenon Report: Mohammed’s Cat (Part 1)
