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[edit] David Conway / Smerus
58 years old, British, born in London, married, piano player, three children, two grandchildren, general dilettante.
Graduated from King's College,Cambridge University in 1971: BA in economics and natural sciences (psychology). MA Cambridge (for those who don't know, this is a sort of English joke) 1975.
Married (by Louis Jacobs), to Nadia, who was born in Prague but was brought up in Slovakia. We now own a mediaeval house in Levoca, Slovakia, which we are gradually restoring. We are also organising an international music festival in the town.
Both Nadia and myself were (for too many years) elected local government councillors for a London borough, for the Conservative party which we both support. Nadia was Mayor there in 1993-4, almost certainly the first Conservative mayor in the UK to have been a past president of the Slovak Communist Youth Movement.
My employment history has included the London Stock Exchange, the textile industry, and management consultancy.
I presently divide my time between researching music history (dissertation on the entry of Jews to musical professions in the period 1780-1850, University College London, PhD 2008), lounging about in Slovakia, and working on development aid projects in the former Soviet Union on behalf of the European Commission and DFID. (Recent projects based in Leningrad Oblast and Georgia).
In 1994-6 I was the first Englishman to live in Kaliningrad since the RAF bombed it to pieces in 1944 (when it was still Koenigsberg). From 1998-2000 I was based in Brussels, Belgium, heading an EU project and travelling throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States.
15 minutes of fame: in 2003 I was a member of the University College London University Challenge team. We got to the quarter-finals, but in the previous round we got the 11th highest score ever made in the programme.
15 minutes of non-entity: in 1992 I won the 'Brain of Enfield' competition.
I was an early contributor to the Find a Grave web-site. Over 2000 of my photos are still up on the site. I am gradually uploading those which are relevant to the appropriate articles in Wikipedia.
I am a Non-Executive Director of a National Health Service Primary Care Trust in London. Also a Lay Governor of Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication.
[edit] Personal Weblinks
[edit] My awards!
For many excellent contributions related to the people of Russia and Russian and Soviet history, I hereby award you this original barnstar! Enjoy,
Irpen
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The Barnstar of Diplomatic Exemplitude |
| I, Coppertwig, award you, Smerus, this Barnstar of Diplomatic Exemplitude for this edit, which I held in mind as an ideal to strive for while writing this edit, which earned me this barnstar. |
[edit] (Some of the) articles I have created / to which I have made substantial textual contributions
