FUTURE EVENTS

13 February 2012: Scott Antony will talk about his biography of Stephen Tallents

Dr Scott Antony, Leverhulme Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge will discuss his biography of Sir Stephen George Tallents: Public Relations and the Making of Modern Britain, to be published later this year. Until 2005 Dr Antony worked as a strategic communications advisor at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. His other works include The Projection of Britain (2011) and Night Mail (2007).

Sir Stephen Tallents (1884 - 1958) was a British civil servant and public relations expert. In 1919 he was appointed British Commissioner for the Baltic Provinces and helped fix the border between Estonia and Latvia, which included dividing Valga from Valka, in the Treaty of Versailles.  

The talk, followed by refreshments, will be held at the Embassy on monday 13 February, 6-00 for 6-30pm. RSVP to Elisabeth Tamm elisabeth.tamm@mfa.ee or by phone 020 7589 3428.

1 March 2012: Peter Carter, former British Ambassador to Estonia

Peter Carter who was, until recently, the British Ambassador - based in Tallinn - will give a short talk to BEST members about his time in Estonia. Many of you will remember meeting him at his talk to BEST members just before he left for Tallinn in 2007. 

The event, followed by refreshments, will be held at the Estonian Embassy on thursday 1 March, 6-00 for 6-30pm. RSVP to Elisabeth Tamm elisabeth.tamm@mfa.ee or by phone 020 7589 3428. 

RECENT EVENTS

November 16
Coping with the October Revolution – the Baltic connection: a talk by Robert Service

Robert Service was recently in Tallinn as a guest at the Tallinn Literary Festival, where Mart Laar chaired a discussion with him on his latest book Spies and Commissars, Bolshevik Russia and the West which is being published in English and Estonian in November. The theme of the book is the largely unorthodox means used between 1918 and 1921 to defend or attack the rising Soviet power, with much of the action taking place in Estonia. BEST members who have an interest in the former Soviet Union will know Robert Service’s definitive biographies of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky and his History of Modern Russia.

The event was at the Embassy and was followed by refreshments and lively discussion

7 September
The Estonian Diaspora in Sweden: A talk by Estonian Ambassador, Mrs Aino Lepik von Wirren

Mrs Lepik von Wirren grew up amongst the Estonian community in Sweden, most of whom had fled there in 1944 to escape the advancing Soviet army. She spoke about their work in maintaining Estonian identity and the difficulties they faced during the Soviet era in keeping links with family members who had stayed behind. Her father was the poet Kalju Lepik, who had to write most of his work in exile.

The talk was held at the Embassy.

15 June
The Last Ambassador: A talk by Tina Tamman

Tina Tamman spoke on her new book The Last Ambassador - August Torma, soldier, diplomat, spy. Torma was appointed Estonian ambassador to the Court of St James's in 1934. He lost his government in 1940 when the Soviet Union overran his country, but continued to live at the legation in London and visit the Foreign Office. Gradually, however, his diplomatic standing was eroded because of Soviet demands.

This biography of the remarkable life of Torma was the fruit of four years of research by Tina Tamman, for which she was awarded a PhD by the University of Glasgow last year.

The talk was held at the Embassy.

1 June
My Estonian Dream: A talk by Abdul Turay

Abdul Turay gave an interesting talk at the Embassy about his experiences as a contraversial political journalist in Estonia. Abdul is a British journalist based in Tallinn and columnist for Postimees, Estonia's most prestigious and best-selling newspaper. Prior to that he was editor-in-chief of the Baltic Times. He has also worked as a reporter for newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

He recently participated in the British Council's seminar: Estonia's Roads to Tolerance where he talked about overall tolerance to foreigners in the country.

The talk was followed by refreshments and lively debate.

5 April
Translating Jaan Kaplinski: A talk by Susan Wilson

Susan Wilson graduated from Bradford University in 1989 with a BA Hons (First Class) in French and Spanish, and from the University of Kent in 1990 with an MA in Translation. She was employed for 13 years at the FCO in London as a staff translator and reviser before venturing into the world of freelance translation in 2004. Last year her translation of Jann Kaplinski's novel The Same River was published by Peter Owen Publishing.

1 February
Driving out old gods? A talk by Dr Aleks Pluskowski

Dr Pluskowski and colleagues explored the environmental impact of crusading. Dr Pluskowski directs the 'Ecology of Crusading' research programme www.ecologyofcrusading.com a multi-disciplinary project involving partners from the UK, Poland, Estonia and Latvia, funded by the European Research Council from 2010-2014. He teaches medieval and environmental archeology at the University of Reading.

The event was be held at the Estonian Embassy.

14 December
Book launch: Xenophobe's guide to the Estonians by Hilary Bird, Ulvi Mustmaa and Lembit Opik

BEST held a reception for members to meet the authors of this book, two of whom - Lembit Opik and Hilary Bird - will probably be familiar to BEST members.

The event was held at the Embassy and was hosted jointly by Oval, the publishers of this series, and The Bluffers Guides.

PAST EVENTS

Most BEST meetings take place at the Estonian Embassy in Hyde Park Gate. We start with a speaker, then have some questions and follow this with a social. We have been fortunate in the range of speakers who have talked to us. During 2008-9 we have welcomed speakers from Estonia such as Laine Jänes, the Minister of Culture, who discussed with us in a very frank way all the problems Estonia has in preserving its monuments, encouraging the contemporary arts and promoting itself abroad. Tarmo Kriis, Chairman of ETTK, the Estonian Employers Confederation, gave a timely talk on October 2008 about how the current economic situation was hitting Estonia and it is good that his realistic prognosis for the future looks as though it will be correct.  We therefore felt we could, in May 2009, ask Rauno Parras, Marketing Director of Estonian Air, to look at plans for the airline when the recession is over. British visitors are likely to have to change planes more often in Copenhagen than they have done recently, but they will in compensation have several connections a day from Heathrow and Manchester.

From the British side, Gordon Marsden brought us up to date with his work as Chair of the UK-Estonia All-Parliamentary group and Alex Jennings gave us a reading of extracts from Edwin Alexander’s novel Theft of the Master which is set in Estonia, In April 2008 Jonathan Black introduced his book Dora Gordine and then in May 2009 gave us a lecture at the exhibition of her work at the Kingston Museum. Probably few residents of Tallinn (or even London) will equal her highly colourful life set against her achievement as a sculptor. In July 2008 John Hiden and Martyn Housden introduced their book Neighbours or Enemies; Germans, the Baltic and Beyond. For the first time at a BEST meeting, we were able to look at Estonia during the first period of independence.

In October 2008 members were able to attend a lecture by President Ilves on European Security Architecture – A Paradigm Shift?

Where appropriate we also hold functions jointly with the BLA (British-Latvian Association) and the BLS (British-Lithuanian Association). In February 2008 Edward Lucas launched his New Cold War at SSEES (School of Slavonic and East European Studies) and in September 2008 Brian Hammett talked about Arthur Ransome. Brian has edited the two books by Ransome that cover his sailing in the Baltics.

Tiina-Maria Varavas, British representative of Enterprise Estonia gave us a talk on June 1, 2009 on British investment in Estonia.

We realise that BEST needs to arrange events outside London and we are now working with Estonian organisations to plan joint activities. These may well be centred on performances, now that so many Estonian musicians are coming here. We also plan to have more London functions on Saturdays as we realise that this will suit many members better