Friday, 2nd December, 7pm
Fitzwilliam College, Old Library Room
(1st Floor of the Hall Building)
Storey’s Way, Cambridge CB3 0DG
Entrance: FREE
PROGRAMME:
- “The Romanovs: Yesterday and Today”. A talk by the historian, journalist, translator and writer Staffan Skott (in English), based on Staffan’s recent book “The Romanovs” (published in Sweden), that tracks the dynasty of the Russian tsars after the 1917 Revolution up to the present day. Staffan gave a lively and very humane account of his personal, most memorable meetings with many descendants of the Romanov family in different countries of the world.
- Short QUIZ (with a musical slant) on the history of Imperial Russia (in which the Rahr-Bohr family, led by the young but smart Miss Katie, managed to win nearly all the prizes!)
- CamRuSS AGM. We heard and unanimously approved the President’s report on CamRuSS’ activities and achievements in the academic year 2010-2011, and elected the new Organising Commitee. Congratulations to Ksenia Afonina who agreed to stay our President for another year!
- Invigorating DRINKS and exquisite PIES. This was one of the highlights of the evening. Many thanks to everyone who brought delicious homemade Russian food, including the very popular “Olivier” salad by Katya Matosova-Parker, an air-tender poppy pie by Angelika Markevica, and a luscious blackcurrant pie by Natasha Konovalova.
About the Speaker – Staffan Skott writes about himself: “Born 1943. My book on the Romanovs’ history tells what happened to all the Romanovs and their descendants after 1917 ago, including those I met in different countries. The book was published in 1979 and has been translated also into Finnish, Polish, and Estonian.
I have published 15 books, mostly Russian history, and translated fifty plays and forty books, from Russian: Chekhov, Gogol, Aleksandr Ostrovsky, Radzinsky, Gorky, Schwarz et al.Journalist at Sweden’s largest morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter 1981-2008. I live in Cambridge since 2008, when my wife Maria Nikolajeva got a chair at the Faculty of Education (not in Russian, but she would be an outstanding professor of Russian Literature as well). My ancestors before 1900 were all farm hands and peasants from the province of Dalarna – the heart, soul and brain of Sweden. Not a drop of Russian blood. But three of my children do have. And four of the ten grandchildren. I am not a monarchist.”
