Rex Leeper

Sir Reginald ('Rex') Leeper is recognised as the founder of the British Council.

An Australian by birth, he entered the British Foreign Office in 1920 and in 1929 joined the News Department, which was responsible for information work overseas.

Persuaded of the importance of what he termed 'cultural propaganda' in promoting Britain, he persuaded Foreign Office colleagues to fund this work, and in 1931 arranged lecture tours and book donations to nearly 30 countries. In 1933 he contributed to the setting up of a Cultural Relations Committee - with the Board of Education and the Department of Overseas Trade, and in 1934 founded the organisation which was to be renamed the British Council.

Leeper continued to promote the the new organisation within the Foreign Office until 1938, when he was appointed to head the Political Intelligence Department.

After his retirement in 1948 till his death in 1968, he held the honorary position of Vice President of the British Council, and continued to take an interest in its work and development.