8th November 2017 Vienna, Austria
Several Austrian friends have asked me recently why I am wearing a small, red flower – a poppy – on my jacket lapel. It’s because the United Kingdom together with other Commonwealth nations will commemorate Remembrance Day on November 11th, the day in 1918 which marked the end of hostilities in the First World War. […]
8th November 2017 Vienna, Austria
The youngest of the four men is 82. He left when he was four years old. The oldest is 98. They cheerfully sign autographs and chat about their experiences. I’m at the launch in Vienna of a terrific book: Vienna – London: Passage to Safety: Emigré portraits in photographs and words, edited by Austrian photographer […]
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31st October 2017 Vienna, Austria
A bloke in a leather jacket stands on a sunny railway platform, looking forward to starting a new job. Excited to be on my way from Salzburg today to take up my posting in #Vienna pic.twitter.com/S4oSK0J1TJ — Leigh Turner (@LeighTurnerFCO) August 27, 2016 I started as British Ambassador to Vienna and UK Permanent Representative to […]
19th October 2017 Vienna, Austria
The tunnel is steep: I clutch a rope and lower myself towards an aluminium ladder below. Water drips, gathering in pools. Yet when I reach the bottom, a beautifully-carved stone passageway curves around a corner. The tunnels and menhirs of eastern Styria (Steiermark) are remarkable. According to the research body Sub Terra Vorau, around 790 […]
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4th October 2017 Vienna, Austria
Since starting my posting as Ambassador in Vienna in September 2016, I have had the pleasure of visiting almost every Austrian state, from Vorarlberg to Lower Austria. Along the way, I have met dozens of businesses, including importers of British products to Austria, and Austrian companies with a significant presence in the UK. I have […]
26th September 2017 Vienna, Austria
I was in the flea-market at the Naschmarkt in Vienna in 1984 when I saw for sale a broken mechanical wall-calendar. With its black, white and gold decoration, it looked like something between Jugendstil (Austrian art nouveau) and Italian Futurism – I was reminded of a work by Umberto Boccioni in The Tate Modern. Further […]
6th September 2017 Vienna, Austria
An ambassador punches a horse and gets involved in a fight with the coachman. Two hundred years later, another ambassador in the same city initiates a series of discussion evenings named after his predecessor. Why? Lord Charles Vane-Stewart, Third Marquess of Londonderry, was the first British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Austria […]
28th June 2017 Vienna, Austria
How do objects and memories affect each other? I explored these issues in my earlier blog, Things from Vienna? Or Viennese things? One of the costs, or possibly benefits, of of being a diplomat is that every few years you have to pack up everything you own and move to another country. Once you’ve arrived […]
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16th June 2017 Vienna, Austria
The sun blazes down on a red-tiled medieval roofscape. Outdoor tables and chairs and street performers hint at a lively café culture and a burgeoning arts scene. “The Guardian” famously described Graz, capital of the Austrian region of Styria, as “Vienna’s cooler little sister”. As a resident of Vienna who subscribes to Oscar Wilde’s aphorism […]
19th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
I blogged recently about my bruising encounter with a Viennese wild boar. Following the blog, I was overwhelmed with ‘get well soon’ messages from well-wishers. Because the story was widely reported, I also received queries on the lines of ‘what’s this blogging all about then?’ and ‘What does an ambassador do when not being chased […]