Prominent British philhellene Sir Stephen Fry has reiterated his call for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece in a passionate speech delivered at the Acropolis Museum on Wednesday.

He began the speech by praising Britain.

“I love my country, Shakespeare, Dickens, I love anything about Britain.

“However, I am capable of feeling shame because of my country, and that makes me unhappy,” he said acknowledging his homeland’s contributions but also what he called a “a history of greed, rapacity, hypocrisy and disgraceful behaviour.”

“And until we can come to terms with that, we won’t be able to face issues like the Parthenon Sculptures and our role in the appalling history of over 200 years of the separation of these remarkable sculptures.”

Fry spoke of the legality details around the existence or not of a firman as “meaningless” and said that returning the sculptures to Greece is a matter of “natural justice”.

The actor, author and director, was honoured at an event organised by the Greek Ministry of Tourism and the Greek National Tourism Organization on the occasion of his latest book, ‘Odyssey’.

The ‘In Conversation with Stephen Fry’ event paid tribute to Fry’s role in the reunification campaign.

“The Odyssey is a story of quest, resilience and return. There is no better fitting metaphor than this one for the Parthenon Sculptures,” Greek Minister of Tourism, Olga Kegalogianni said, introducing Fry and his book.

In his speech, Fry called the Parthenon Sculptures a symbol of “everything that has been wrong about Britain” and urged his country to right a historical wrong, which he said would bring a win-win for both sides.

“It is natural justice to understand that the sculptures belong here,” he said speaking at the Acropolis Museum.

“And what an opportunity it is for Britain, with our reputation in tatters, at least to be able to be proud of something: We had the opportunity to return these priceless things where they belong, and there is this sort of smile in the universe the moment they click back into those blank spaces here, in this magnificent museum, and they are returned, they are home.”