Through trading and conquest, Mycenaean civilization spread its influence from Mycenae to many parts of the Mediterranean region and Europe.

He reported its name as Prettanike (Πρεττανική) and Brettaniai (Βρεττανίαι), for Britain and the British islands, which became Britannia, it is assumed that its Hellenised version was under Diodorus.

"For Jupiter Best and Greatest, this temple, collapsed through old age, was restored by Aquilinus, freedman of the emperor, a trader, a man of courage, a Greek.

"As far north as Cumbria, we find the tomb of Hermes of Commagene: "Let some traveller, on seeing Hermes of Commagene, aged 16 years, sheltered in the tomb by fate, call out: I give you my greetings, lad, though mortal the path of life you slowly tread, for swiftly have you winged your way to the land of the Cimmerian folk.

[15] It is a matter of historical record then, that Greek was being spoken in England hundreds of years before the English language or Anglo-Saxon peoples ever reached its shores.

[15] In the 7th century, following the death of the previous holder of the post, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury (669 AD); he played an important part in the early history of England, building churches and monasteries and establishing theological studies.

[15] The Byzantine ruler Manuel II visited England in 1400, where he was received by Henry IV at Eltham Palace.

[16] In 1445, the king of England, Henry VI (1421–1471), granted the brothers permission to remain in London and to practise their trade of gold wire drawing.

They made a costly type of thread in which thin strands of gold were intertwined with silk, and which was then used in expensive luxury fabrics and in sacerdotal vestments, a craft for which Constantinople had been famous in its heyday.

[16] They lived first in the area of Cripplegate, much of which is now covered by the Barbican Centre, and later they moved to Broad Street, in what was then the Italian quarter of London.

Some came as soldiers during the reign of Henry VIII, led by the officers Theodore Luchisi, Antonios Stesinos, and Colonel Thomas of Argos, responsible for the garrisoning of the then-English possession of Calais.

In about 1545, Nikandros Noukios [el] of Corfu spent time in London and left an interesting account of his impressions.

[19] The descendants of the imperial Palaeologus dynasty carved out a niche as mercenary officers in Britain, and their tombs are still visible in locations as far apart – both geographically and in terms of social standing – as Westminster Abbey and Landulph parish church, Cornwall.

A few individuals settled permanently, such as a native of Rhodes called Konstantinos Benetos, who was recorded as living in Clerkenwell between 1530 and 1578.

They were too few, too obscure and too transitory, and above all they lacked the one thing that would have given them cohesion and a common identity: a church where they could practise their Orthodox faith.

[21] When a Turkish soldier was accidentally killed on Argyropoulos' land, the Ottoman authorities held him responsible and forced him to flee overseas and eventually to London in 1633.

[21] Georgios Constantinos of Skopelos had established the Grecian coffeehouse in Devereux court, just off the Strand, and he could count Sir Isaac Newton and other members of the Royal Society among his clientele.

[21] The expansion of Britain's overseas trade with the Levant brought many more merchant ships to the port of London, some of them crewed by Greeks.