 As founder and acharya (leader) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established the first Radha Krishna Temple in New York in 1966, followed by a branch in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.In 1968, as the movement continued to expand in North America, he asked three married couples who had served at the San Francisco temple to establish a base in England.One of the devotees, Shyamsundar Das, later explained that "The scene, the centre of activity, was shifting from San Francisco to London [in 1968]", and that the 72-year-old Prabhupada was drawn to having a base in the United Kingdom due to his upbringing as "an Indian in the British Empire".