A poll two years ago showed less than half the public supported returning the marbles, originally part of a frieze around the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis.
Under one proposal, the marbles would be exhibited in Athens during this year's Olympics. The museum in Bloomsbury, central London, opposes returning them or lending them to Greece.
The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the lobby group Marbles Reunited and will be highlighted at the launch on Wednesday of a campaign to have the stones housed in a new museum beside the Acropolis.
The campaign group has the backing of the former foreign secretary Robin Cook, the actresses Vanessa Redgrave and Fiona Shaw, and the Olympic gold medallists Linford Christie and Tessa Sanderson.
"The marbles should go back to where they belong, in Greece," said Sanderson, now vice-chairman of Sport England. "All the more so as a gesture for this Olympic year. You can relate more to them being there than in the British Museum."
Anthony Snodgrass, emeritus professor of classical archeology at Cambridge University and a leading campaigner for restitution of the marbles, said: "Support has grown for the marbles to be reunited as the British people now understand the conditions which the Greek government has put forward, including this planned museum, and the fact that it is Olympic year."
Momentum for change is also gathering among museum staff around Britain. According to a poll by the Museums Association, more than 90% of employees support some form of return of the marbles. "The British Museum could be bold and offer to loan some of the most famous pieces from the marbles for the period of the Olympic Games in a suitable venue in Athens," said Maurice Davies, deputy director of the association.
It had been hoped that the new Acropolis would be ready this year as the proposed site for the marbles, but it is behind schedule. The British Museum says its ownership of the marbles is legal because it paid for them in the 19th century.
Officials point out that only some of the marbles are in London. Much of the Parthenon was destroyed and of the remaining stones, Greece has about 40%, with the rest in other museums around the world. The museum also says it has never had a formal, written request for the marbles' return.

Richard Brooks, Arts Editor
From:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-959023-523,00.html

A Greek-backed campaign for the return of the 2,500-year-old marbles, which
were removed by Lord Elgin, the former British ambassador to Greece, between
1803 and 1812, has been running for more than 40 years, but with little
success.
The British Museum, which houses the stones, has refused to hand them over
despite a well-publicised campaign that has been supported by MPs and public
figures including Dame Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Christie.
The Greeks have turned to Burson Marsteller - which represents such diverse
clients as the Iraqi National Congress, Tesco, Visa and Shell - because of
its past success in crisis management, includingproviding advice to the
American Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the wake of the disaster there,
and to Union Cardbide following the disaster in Bhopal, India.
An opinion poll, commissioned by the company and published today, shows that
a majority of people in Britain and among the British Museum's visitors
support a return of the marbles to Greece.
Nicholas Papadakis, the press counsellor at the Greek Embassy, said: "We are
optimistic that there may be a breakthrough in the run up to the Olympics."

By Chris Hastings, Media Correspondent
(Filed: 11/01/2004)
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk

One violation of national airspace was also recorded in the region
southeast of the island of Rhodes.

In all cases, the 12 Turkish aircraft were recognized and intercepted
immediately by Greek air force jets.

Athens, 23/12/2003 (ANA)