His mother’s picture with him is dated 1962

Vitali Vitaliev 
FRGS, MITWA, NAWE RLF 
Writing Fellow Cambridge University
 

Prolific Author of 14 books 
(translated into 8 languages), 
Journalist and Broadcaster

Profile Link

The chair is John Blaskey

Profile Link

Author of 14 books, translated into German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Finnish.

Vitali Vitaliev a Ukrainian-born and UK-based multi-award-winning author, columnist, editor and broadcaster. Starting his career in the former U.S.S.R, where he was  known as the country’s first investigative journalist and forced to defect in 1990. Having lived in the UK, Australia and Ireland and having travelled in over 70 countries, he worked as a columnist, editor and features writer for a number of the world's leading newspapers and magazines.

The speaker will cover the following points, 
followed by a Q&A session:

1. The town that doesn't exist (unmapped Soviet 'secret towns') and where I spent the first years of my life.

2. Growing and living up in the anti-Semitic fascist U.S.S.R (and that included Ukraine).

3. Being the first investigative journalist in the Soviet Union. Investigations into organised crime and roots of Soviet/Russian fascism and the resulting defection to the West.

4. From an armchair buccaneer Soviet boy to the Royal Geographical Society and Cambridge University Fellow: the story of my travels and discoveries. 

5. The importance of getting lost and what makes a perfect traveller.