Dr. Wolfgang Lechner
Wolfgang Lechner was born in Austria. A Tyrolean mother and a Viennese grandmother taught him to cook. His academic career included studies in German Language and Literature, History and Art History at the universities of Innsbruck, Wien, Berlin und Debrecen before he was graduated Ph. D. for a thesis on the reception of Ödön von Horváth. But then he decided to become a journalist.
He used to be editor for the magazine „Eltern“ („Parents“) in Munich and chief editor of a youth magazine in Augsburg. During the exciting year of 1989 he joined the editorial staff of the weekly „Die Zeit“ in Hamburg. As a reporter he has travelled all five continents. He wrote about the garbage people of Cairo but also about meeting Astrid Lindgren. He has worked in the pantry of a cruise liner as well as in the kitchen of a Michelin star restaurant in Berlin – just to write about his experience. But he also started a fundraising project for the SOS Childrens Village organisation in Rwanda and went there several times to update the readers of „Die Zeit“.
As an editor of „ZEITmagazin“ he was the anchorman of the famous german food writer Wolfram Siebeck. And for „ZEIT Edition“ he met numerous wine makers between river Moselle and the Cape of Good Hope. For more than 16 years he has travelled on board MV Europa and other cruise liners as lecturer and expert. Wolfgang Lechner is married, based in Hamburg and usually spends his summer holidays on the island of Menorca. Four children and six grandchildren are spread over Hamburg, Bielefeld and Milan. At family meetings several languages are spoken: Austrian, German, Italian, Turkish and Arabic.
Depending upon the circumstances, it is possible that another expert will join this cruise instead.
