24th May 2022 Belgrade, Serbia
I am a diplomat not a historian. But as a diplomat you cannot escape or ignore history – and nor should you want to. It is desperately sad to see a country with a rich heritage being trapped by a re-imagined history rather than addressing present needs and future opportunities. Chatting over dinner about 15 […]
25th September 2020 Belgrade, Serbia
The Second World War finally came to an end just over 75 years ago. The memory of that war becomes more distant with each passing generation. This was the lived experience of my parents’ generation, experience and memories that our parents – or perhaps for some of you your grandparents – recounted to us as children, but which we can […]
30th November 2015 London, UK
Sir Fitzroy Maclean (1911-96) — a ‘true Maclean scion’ ‘A man of daring character, with Foreign Office training’: thus Winston Churchill perfectly summed up the glamorous and enigmatic Fitzroy Maclean, who combined the careers of diplomat, soldier, partisan, politician and writer. His talents — aided by personal charm and enviable contacts — enabled him to […]
Read more on A famous Scot in the FCO for St Andrews Day | Reply
19th June 2015 Ottawa, Canada
This is an edited transcript of an interview I did with Bianca Gendreau from the Canadian Museum of History on the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta…
29th May 2015
I was delighted to spend a couple of hours recently with top Turkish journalist and photographer Ercan Arslan. Ercan had come across my Twitter account @leighturnerFCO and the series #reasonstolikeIstanbul, now at #373. He asked if we could visit a few of the places I’d tweeted about. The result was a piece published in the […]
21st May 2015 Toronto, Canada
If you didn’t, I’d thoroughly recommend it. It’s a dramatisation of Alan Turing and others’ work, capturing the herculean task that the code breakers of Bletchley Park undertook to help our war effort. Historians estimate that the code breakers shortened the war by two years and saved thousands of lives…
20th April 2015 London, UK
Later this month we will all commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Canakkale or Gallipoli campaign. It will be a magnificent occasion with many heads of state from around the world attending at President Erdogan’s invitation. HRH The Prince of Wales will represent HM The Queen and he will be accompanied by HRH Prince Harry and […]
29th January 2015 Vancouver, Canada
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s death. Whilst he is rightly remembered as a war time leader, artist and historian; did you know that he also had a passion for science?
29th December 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria
by His Excellency the British Ambassador to Bulgaria Jonathan Allen When we began this year with the intention to mark the centenary of the Ambassador’s Residence, we could not have imagined how successful and interesting our year would be. Amongst the many events that we planned, the most successful and most interesting has been our blog. Just […]
Read more on 2014 – Celebrating Friendship between Britain and Bulgaria | Reply
17th November 2014 Ottawa, Canada
In a quiet corner of Ottawa by the junction of Sussex Avenue and Stanley Drive, there stands a fine memorial to the Canadian Officers loaned to Great Britain during the Second World War…