The British Museum in London nearly cancelled a major exhibition on the Olympics in 1980 because of the UK’s boycott of the Moscow Games. Archival research by The Art Newspaper reveals that the museum was worried the show would antagonise the Thatcher government, and the museum’s director went so far as to seek advice from the Office of the Prime Minister.
The discussions offer an unusual insight into how a major national museum dealt with the political landscape of its day. The exhibition of Greek antiquities relating to Olympia had been scheduled to coincide with the Moscow Games in summer 1980, but in December 1979, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan, backing a coup that resulted in the installation of a pro-Moscow regime. Western governments called for sanctions against the Soviet Union. The UK officially boycotted the Moscow Olympics, though individual athletes could choose to participate.
Change of title The trustees of the British Museum first discussed whether to cancel the show at a meeting in February 1980. David Wilson, the museum’s director, was asked to consult the Foreign Office and reported back that the government had “no objection”. By the time of the trustees’ board meeting on 10 May, the title of the exhibition had been modified from “The Olympic Games” to “The Ancient Olympic Games”, presumably to distance it from the events of the day. Lord Trend, the chairman of the board, said that the show might arouse “adverse criticism”, but the trustees decided to proceed.
Wilson remained concerned. On 30 May—just six days before the opening— he called Margaret Thatcher’s office for advice. He said that the museum had “devoted much thought to the question of going ahead with this exhibition or cancelling it”, but the trustees had concluded that “since the exhibition is confined to the ancient Games … there is no reason to call it off”. Wilson stressed that the show “should not be interpreted as in any sense a political act”.
Nicholas Sanders, the private secretary at Number 10 who took the call, advised Thatcher that this did not seem to be “an issue which you yourself would want to take up directly with the museum”, according to a declassified note in the National Archives. Thatcher initialled the note, giving her approval.
Other declassified papers reveal why the museum wanted to avoid antagonising the government: that autumn, Wilson and Trend lobbied Thatcher to try to secure funds to convert the British Library’s Round Reading Room into a display area for the museum’s greatest treasures. (Progress on the long-term future of the reading room continues to prove complicated 36 years on.)
While the UK boycotted the Moscow opening ceremony, most British athletes participated, winning five gold medals. The Ancient Olympic Games exhibition, which opened on 5 June 1980, also turned out to be a winner; the museum even extended its run until January 1981, and it drew 335,000 visitors.
Bestselling handbook A week after the show’s opening, the trustees were told that the Office of Arts and Libraries (the predecessor of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) had “expressed fears of an unfavourable reaction to this exhibition but these fears had not been justified”, according to declassified documents.
Worries the UK boycott would affect sales of the exhibition handbook also proved unfounded. The book turned out to be a bestseller and remains in print.
The show was organised by Judith Swaddling, then a young curator in the Greek and Roman department. Still working at the museum, she told us last month that she “had not been involved in the political problems behind the scenes”. Partly to mark the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the sculpture of Discobolus, one of the star attractions in 1980, has been moved from the museum’s Greek sculpture galleries to the Enlightenment Gallery.