Friday 22 January, 7pm, Royal Oak Pub

Pub Night

Meet us in the Royal Oak, 42-44 Woodstock Rd, for chat, drinks and a bite!

Friday 29 January, 8 pm, Blue Boar Seminar Room, Christ Church College

Brexit: What would Thomas Hobbes, David Hume and Adam Smith advise?

Péter Róna (Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford)

The claim proposed and defended is that the EU is not a union as that concept was elaborated by these seminal thinkers, and, further, that in the absence of a genuine union the EU is unlikely to survive for the very reasons they had set out.

Friday 5 February, 8 pm, Blue Boar Seminar Room, Christ Church College

Trading with the Enemy: British-Hungarian Commercial Relations during World War II

Éva Norton (Historian)

The talk aims to explore the complexity and flexibility with which both parties handled their commercial ties in the war. Éva Norton is a Hungarian historian living in London and a former Oxford Soros Scholar.

Friday 12 February, 8 pm, Blue Boar Seminar Room, Christ Church College

After the End of Polio: Local and Global Consequences of Hungarian Disease Elimination in the Cold War 

Dóra Vargha (Researcher, Birkbeck College, University of London)

Hungary was one of the first countries in the world to introduce the Sabin vaccine in its national programme in 1959, which soon eliminated polio in the country. This feat had profound consequences both on the local and global scale - on medical knowledge and practice, disability and eradication programmes. Looking past the conventional epidemic narrative, the talk will uncover some of the hidden histories of disease elimination and explores the significance of proclaiming the end of a disease.

Thursday 18 February, 8 pm,  Harris Seminar Room, Oriel College

Hungarian Musical Life in the Shadow of Nazism

Ágnes Kőry (Béla Bartók Centre for Musicianship, London)

In spite of strict laws preventing Jewish participation in Hungary’s cultural life from 1939, music-making by Jews refused to die out without a fight. With the aid of some outstanding Jewish cultural figures, Hungarian Jewish musicians organised their own regular events in Jewish premises under the collective name of OMIKE. Ágnes Kőry will discuss the OMIKE Artists Action with music samples. 

Friday 26 February, 8 pm, Harris Seminar Room, Oriel College

Field Marshal Gróf Hadik András (1710-1790), His Campaigns and His Family

Andrew Hadik (Barrister, London)

Andrew Hadik is a descendant of the Field Marshal. He will give a talk, from a personal point of view, on the life and career of the Field Marshal and other members of the Hadik family.

Friday 4 March, 8 pm, Harris Seminar Room, Oriel College

The Collapse of Hungarian Communism: the view from the British Embassy

Sir John Birch (Former British Ambassador at Budapest)

Sir John Birch will discuss how the Hungarian people escaped from “Kádár’s Happy Barrack“ and contributed to the end of the Soviet Empire in Europe. Was it out of the frying pan into the fire?

 Friday 11 March, 8 pm, Harris Seminar Room, Oriel College

Film Night

For Some Inexplicable Reason (VAN valami furcsa és megmagyarázhatatlan)

Gábor Reisz’s debut film tells the story of how a trip to Lisbon helps a nerdy guy who is quickly approaching 30 finally get his mojo back. Duration: 90 minutes.