Tag: history

24th May 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

History revision

History

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 […]

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25th September 2020 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Windows on History

WW2 photo exhibition in Belgrade

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 […]

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30th November 2015 London, UK

Isabelle Tombs

FCO Historian

A famous Scot in the FCO for St Andrews Day

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 […]

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29th May 2015

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

#REASONSTOLIKEISTANBUL PART 2

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 […]

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21st May 2015 Toronto, Canada

by Fern Horine

Deputy British Consul General to Toronto and Director Trade for UKTI Canada

Did you see The Imitation Game?

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…

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20th April 2015 London, UK

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by Richard Moore

FCO Political Director

We will remember them

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 […]

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29th December 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria

2014 – Celebrating Friendship between Britain and 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 […]

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