Our Past Tea Talks

Despite being a fairly young and always active group, we already have a decent history of both official and informal activities, events and outings. Here's a selection of the more interesting ones in chronological order.

First Official Excalibur Tea Talk

After a series of informal, working meetings in various places of Prague, the Czech Excalibur Alumni hold their first official meeting on 24th May, 1997. The meeting was hosted by the British Embassy who courteously provided the venue in the Rennaisance Hall of the Embassy and contributed to its programme by a stimulating and thought-provoking talk "Britain's Role in Central Europe," delivered by Tony Brennan, the Second Secretary of the Embassy. We also had the pleasure to invite a special guest David Roberts, the Deputy Director of the British Council office in Prague. The talks and dicussions were followed by a short tour of the Embassy gardens, and ended in an informal outing at the Scarlet O'Hara bar.

Second Official Excalibur Tea Talk

On Sunday, 7th September, the Czech Excalibur Alumni met at their second regular 'big' meeting, this time discussing the topic of Journalism. The tea talk was again held in he Rennaisance Hall of the British Embassy in Prague.

Third Official Excalibur Tea Talk

This was held on Sunday, 23rd November 1997, in the Rennaisance Room. The topic was Can English live with other languages, hosted by K. Healey and his wife from the Self Assessment Centre of the Czech Technical University. The enlightening discussion continued then in the pleasant environment of our traditional venue, the Scarlet O'Hara Irish pub.

Sixth Tea Talk

On 10 October 1998, Mr. Karel Kühnl, Member of Parliament, told the audience that in his view the government's role in rescuing bankrupt companies should be limited to exceptional cases, such as banks, and to enterprises with state ownership. There may not be a universal set of criteria to select candidates for state's assistance and, consequently, the debate is likely to involve political issues. While the Czech government indicated a shift towards more generous stance on rescuing troubled businesses, it has been observed that the government's funds are insufficient to fund large scale programmes.

Seventh Tea Talk

On Saturday, 16th January 1999, we had the pleasure to meet Mr. Jiøí Pehe, Head of the Political Department, Office of the President of the Czech Republic, as our guest speaker. The talk had Political Culture and the Current Situation in the Czech Republic as its main topic.

Eighth Tea Talk

Ninth Tea Talk

On 12 June 1999, Mr David Brown, Principal Advisor, Slovak National Agency for Foreign Investment, addressed the audience on the importance of foreign direct investment for sustaining economic growth. The audience heard that the 1999 direct investment flows into Eastern Europe are behind analysts' expectations. However, principal countires of investments' origin, on the global scale, remain the United States and the United Kingdom. Recent research shows that key factors for companies making a location decison still include political and macroeconomic environment. Certain countires, such as Scotland, were successful in building completely new industries through foreign investment.

Tenth (Jubilee!) Tea Talk

On Saturday 20th November 1999, Ms Barbara Day gave a talk The Future Present in the Past: what are the lessons of the Underground University? This was the 10th Excalibur Tea Talk -- what a jubilee!

Eleventh and Twelfth Tea Talks

(Data missing.)

Thirteenth Tea Talk

On Saturday April 7th, 2001, Mr. Zdenek Tuma, the Governor of the Czech National Bank, gave a presentation on the Monetary Policy in the Pre-Accession Period. The talk chaired by Lubor Veleba then continued with a lively discussion on various topics, including the foreseen role of the central bank in the Czech Republic after joining the EU. It was the first talk to which a wide range of former British scholars were invited.