What did you say?
Georgi Dimitrov

“Communists who do nothing to enlighten the masses on the past of their people… voluntarily hand over to the fascist falsifiers all that is valuable in the historical past of the nation.” — 1935

- Georgi Dimitrov
Classical Reception at Kazan Federal University

Classical Reception at Kazan Federal University

Posted on Oct 24, 2018 in Uncategorized

Respected Colleagues (as the polite Russians say), this a report from my recent adventure to Kazan. It was my birthday when Edith Hall (KCL), Richard Alston (RHUL) and I flew out, more or less bright eyed if not quite bushy tailed, to Tatarstan.

and my story begins in Russia… #2

and my story begins in Russia… #2

Posted on Oct 21, 2016 in Uncategorized

On the ‘Red Arrow’ — a famous Soviet-period overnight train between St Petersburg and Moscow — I shared a cabin with a kindly man named Igor. His English vocabulary extended to the words ‘dog’ and ‘bed’, which got us only so far. The crowning moment of our communication came when he showed me a photo on his […]

And my story begins in Russia…

And my story begins in Russia…

Posted on Sep 15, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’ve just got back to London after a month in Russia. The picture above is the front of Finlandskiy Station, St. Petersburg, where in October 1917 Vladimir Lenin rolled in to begin the Revolution that rocked the world. For the first three weeks I lived just off the famous Nevskiy Prospekt, St. Petersburg, where I studied Russian for […]