Nubar Gulbenkian

Nubar Sarkis Gulbenkian (; 2 June 1896 – 10 January 1972) was an Armenian-British business magnate and socialite born in the Ottoman empire. During World War II, he helped organize the underground network that would become known as the Pat O'Leary Line to repatriate British airmen who became stranded in France.

Early years The son of Calouste Gulbenkian, he was born in Kadıköy, Ottoman Empire, but his family fled from the country when he was a few weeks old due to the Hamidian massacres of Armenians. Taken by his father to England, he was educated at Harrow School, Trinity College, Cambridge and in Germany. He was admitted as a student to the Middle Temple in London on 18 October 1917, but he was not called to the bar. As a consequence of his educational background, Gulbenkian saw himself as British and strove to live up to the model of the English gentleman.

Gulbenkian was living in what became Vichy France when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied France in summer 1940. From July to October, he was an agent for the British intelligence agency MI9. Working with Ian Garrow, he laid the groundwork for the creation of a network of people to guide stranded allied soldiers over the Pyrenees mountains to non-belligerent Spain, from where they could be repatriated to the United Kingdom. Following Garrow's arrest, the urban network was led by Albert-Marie Guérisse, and became known by his nom de guerre, the Pat O'Leary Line. Later, Gulbenkian was attached to the Iranian Embassy in London in an honorary role (as he held Iranian citizenship). This helped him during the war as his neutral passport allowed him to cross between France and Spain with little trouble and thus gain access to British intelligence in Gibraltar.

Business

Gulbenkian began as an unpaid worker for his father, who was as noted for his miserly tendencies as his son would be for his spending, but later sued his father for $10 million, bizarrely after a refusal by the company to allow him $4.50 for a lunch of chicken in tarragon jelly.

He was an early guest of John Freeman on the BBC series Face to Face in 1959, but refused to sign a contract or accept a fee for his appearance. During the interview he attacked the Trustees of the Gulbenkian Foundation in what bordered on slander. Following his appearance, he sued the Corporation to be given a copy of the episode, which he claimed had been promised in lieu of a fee, although the suit was not successful.

A well-known gourmet, he was quoted as saying that "the best number for a dinner party is two – myself and a damn good head waiter." Other stories attached to his name include stating his "position in life" on a market research form as "enviable".

Personal life He was married three times, "I've had good wives, as wives go, and as wives go, two of them went". In 1922, he married Galician socialite Herminia Elena Josefa Rodríguez-Borrell Feijóo (1897-1971). In 1928, he married Dora Freeland (aka Doré Plowden) (1893-1981) in London. He courted Marie Berthe Edmée de Ayala, daughter of the French champagne tycoon Louis d'Ayala, for 14 years before they married in 1948. He had no children.

He lived at Arlington House, a block of flats close to London's Ritz Hotel, and at a former rectory in Hoggeston, near Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.