Past Events

Professor David Cannadine, widely regarded as one of the most insightful historians of modern Britain - and certainly one of the wittiest and most entertaining - discussed his 14th book In Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the Past in Modern Britain. While the content of the book centers on Churchill, Cannadine turns an equally insightful gaze on the institutions and individuals that have shaped modern British culture: Gilbert & Sullivan, Ian Fleming, Noel Coward, the National Trust, the Palace of Westminster and more. The Literary Review describes Cannadine as "one of those rare academic historians who have the knack of communicating effectively with the reading public." The television channel, C-SPAN, joined the OAANY for the evening to film Professor Cannadine's presentation for its BOOK TV series.

Professor of History and Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London, Professor Cannadine was educated at Cambridge, Oxford and Princeton, and previously taught at the University of Cambridge and Columbia University. A reception and book signing followed his talk, during which attendees were able to talk informally with Professor Cannadine and each other. Copies of In Churchill's Shadow were offered for sale at a discounted rate and signed by Professor Cannadine upon request. We were delighted to co-sponsor this event with the English-Speaking Union of New York and we were most grateful for their generous hospitality.

The OAANY's tradition of theater trips continued with the Classic Stage Company's performance of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The Artistic Director of the Classic Stage Company at the time, Barry Edelstein, is a Rhodes Scholar and former OAANY speaker, who previously addressed the OAANY on "Directing Shakespeare in America." The highly respected and widely regarded Classic Stage Company has won numerous awards for its productions, which revitalize the classics for contemporary audiences. A group of Oxford alumni and friends benefited from the discounted tickets obtained by the OAANY and saw The Winter's Tale, directed by Barry Edelstein, towards the end of the play's preview run. The Classic Stage Company described The Winter's Tale as follows: "Shakespeare's sublime late masterpiece sweeps breathtakingly from jealousy, rage and loss to redemption, reconciliation and, finally, wonder." After the performance, those who wished could participate in a question and answer session with Classic Stage artists.

A large group of Oxford alumni and friends enjoyed a special Saturday afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as we learned about and viewed an unprecedented limited-time exhibition at the Museum - "Leonardo da Vinci - Master Draftsman." The first comprehensive survey of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings ever presented in America, this international loan exhibition brought together nearly 120 works of extraordinary beauty by one of the great masters of all time. The exhibition surveyed Leonardo's staggering contribution as an artist, scientist, theorist and teacher. Gathered from private and public collections in Europe and North America, the selection of drawings included rarely exhibited works and illustrated a great variety of drawing types. The exhibition also integrated a small group of drawings by artists critical to Leonardo's formation in Florence and to his multifaceted activity in Milan, in an attempt to offer a unified view of the great master's legacy.

We began with a lecture about the works in the exhibition, presented by an expert from the Museum and illustrated with slides. We then had time to tour the exhibition individually afterwards.

There was a very enthusiastic response to this event from Oxford alumni and friends, reflecting both the special nature of the exhibit and the continued interest of Oxford alumni in cultural and artistic events. We were particularly pleased that a very wide variety of alumni attended, some traveling quite some distance, others bringing their children, and overall representing a wide variety of ages and occupations.

On February 20th, a long-held goal of the OAANY came to fruition with the first British Business Schools and Universities Alumni Networking Evening. This event, initiated by the OAANY many months before, quickly took on a life of its own as more and more British business schools and universities expressed an interest in participating! A sizeable organizing Committee quickly formed to plan the details of the event and the British Consulate-General very kindly agreed to host the reception. On a cold and slushy February evening, just a few days after the big blizzard, Oxford alumni were joined by alumni from Cambridge, the London Business School, Manchester Business School, St. Andrews University, the London School of Economics, City Business School and several other UK universities. We ended up with a capacity crowd of almost 200 attendees, all of whom had shared the experience of living and studying in the UK. The group enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, networked, chatted and swapped business cards until well after the event was supposed to have ended! We are most grateful for the hospitality of the British Consulate-General and for the help of its skilled and professional staff.

Oxford alumni joined alumni from the London School of Economics for a relaxing Friday evening as we sampled the wines of Spain and Portugal. LSE alumnus Mark Stone guided us through a selection of Iberian wines in the casual and informal setting of the conveniently located Playwright Tavern. We met in the O'Dwyer Room on the third floor. The Playwright Tavern is located on 49th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Mark provided everything from suggestions on where to buy good wines cheaply in New York to dating advice (after all, he did meet his wife through the LSE alumni group!). A fun and informative evening was had by all!

The OAANY continued its long standing distinguished speaker program with a presentation by Sam Gilliland, the Chief Executive Officer of Travelocity.com. Travelocity pioneered the online travel space and continues to be the most popular travel service on the Web, giving consumers the tools and information to plan, save and make their travel better. Travelocity members can access reservations and information for more than 700 airlines, 55,000 hotels, 50 car rental companies and 6,500 cruise and vacation packages, all backed by more than 1,000 customer service representatives who offer 24-hour assistance. With more than 34 million members and more than $3 billion in gross sales in 2001, Travelocity is the sixth largest travel agency in the United States. Mr. Gilliland was appointed President and CEO of Travelocity in May 2002 and has already established an aggressive program to enhance revenues and develop new customer-focused technologies for the company.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to hear from a true survivor of the dot com shake out and a leader in the travel and leisure industry. We also enjoyed hearing Mr. Gilliland explain some of Travelocity's newest technologies and share his insights into some of the struggles facing the travel industry in these challenging economic times. As with all the OAANY speaker events, the related reception was a key part of the evening. Both before and after Mr. Gilliland's presentation and questions from the floor, attendees enjoyed a networking reception during which they could meet others with similar interests and exchange views and business cards. After the presentation, attendees also had the chance to talk informally with Mr. Gilliland. Once again, many Oxford alumni took advantage of this opportunity to expand their personal and professional networks with others from a wide range of businesses and organizations.

We were very pleased to co-sponsor this event with the Williams Club and we were most grateful for their generous hospitality.