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 […]
21st July 2017 Vienna, Austria
During my first posting in Vienna from 1984-87 I used to travel down the Westautobahn a great deal – often en route to Salzburg, Tyrol or Munich. On the way home, I used to make a pit-stop at a certain motorway service station and consume a cup of hot chocolate. Oddly, as I then saw […]
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5th July 2017 Vienna, Austria
I was delighted last week to attend the match between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Football Club (“FCO FC”) against the Austrian Foreign Ministry Team (“FC Außenamt”). FCO FC have been touring for years. I hosted them when I was Ambassador in Kiev in 2011 in the beautiful setting of the Dynamo Kyiv stadium when […]
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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 […]
31st May 2017 Vienna, Austria
Where did Douglas Adams get the idea for his improbably brilliant book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”? The answer is… Innsbruck. Eagle-eyed colleagues in the Vienna Embassy have brought to my attention a “Guardian” article of 3 February 2011: Douglas Adams and the cult of 42. The article records a letter of thirty years […]
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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 […]
15th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
Climbing through the woods after a cloudburst, I follow the path around a corner to find myself confronting a group of wild boar – four or five hulking adults and countless piglets – known, charmingly, as Frischlinge in German. I am closer to them than either they, or I, would wish. I turn and walk slowly away, avoiding sudden movements. Moments later I hear a noise […]
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10th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
I’m presenting a world-famous Austrian scientist with a gold medal for scientific achievement. His family are present, bursting with pride, along with other world-class Austrian and German scientists. Yet until I was asked to present the medal, I had never heard of the scientific discipline of Tribology. One of the joys and challenges of being […]
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5th May 2017 Vienna, Austria
Hundreds of anopheles mosquitoes are drinking warm blood. Nearby, thousands of fruit fly larvae are tucking into a tasty compote of fruit, writhing, munching and even, alarmingly, jumping in the air. In another part of the lab tsetse flies – hardest to breed – sit solemnly in mesh containers, from which they too can drink […]
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