After Dinner Speakers: Lech Walesca, Claudia Winkleman, Caroline Quentin

Born in 1943, in Popowo, Poland, Lech Walesa was the son of a carpenter. He attended vocational school before taking up the position of electrical engineer in the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, Poland, in 1967. In the late 1970s and early 1980’s Lech Walesa gained notoriety as the leader of 100,000 striking workers protesting about food price rises. In December 1981 martial law was imposed and Solidarity, the movement founded by Walesa was outlawed. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. By 1988 Solidarity was legalised, and in 1989 Walesa became president of Poland. He led the country through industrial privatisation, Poland's first set of totally free parliamentary elections in, and international relations with the newly emerging states of Central and Eastern Europe as well as the well-established Western powers. He remains active in politics and is a sensational speaker with a unique perspective of European political history.