RARE \"Pat O\'Leary Line\" Nubar Gulbenkian Hand Written Note For Sale

Up for sale a VERY RARE! "Pat O'Leary Line" Nubar Gulbenkian Hand Written Noteon 3X5 Card.

ES-5669E

Nubar

Sarkis Gulbenkian (Armenian: Նուպար Սարգիս Կիւլպէնկեան; 2 June 1896 – 10 January 1972) was

an Armenian business magnate and socialite born in War II, he organized the underground network that would become known as the Pat

O'Leary Line to repatriate British airman who became stranded

in France. The son of Calouste Gulbenkian, he was born 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 on 18 October 1917, but 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. While living in Vichy France and

working for the British intelligence agency MI9, from July to October 1940

during World War II, Gulbenkian laid the groundwork for a network of people to

guide stranded allied soldiers over the Pyrenees mountains

to neutral Spain, from where they could be repatriated to the United

Kingdom. As the war went on most of the escapees became airmen shot

down over occupied Europe. Together with the internal system set up by Scottish

Captain Ian Garrow, the networks exfiltrated British soldiers stranded

in France to neutral Spain, from where they could be returned to the United

Kingdom.[5] Following Garrow's arrest, the urban network was

led by Albert-Marie Guérisse, and became known by his nom de

guerre, dubbed 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.

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 incident contributed to Calouste Gulbenkian's decision to leave

$420 million of his fortune to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal. Although

he ultimately inherited $2.5 million from his father, as well as more in a

settlement from the Foundation, Gulbenkian also became independently wealthy

through his own oil dealings. He was initially the protégé of Henri

Deterding at Royal Dutch

Shell but later made an independent fortune which allowed him

to live a highly extravagant lifestyle. Gulbenkian's long beard, monocle and

the orchid in his buttonhole which was replaced daily led to him becoming noted

for a fairly eccentric life, with a number of stories building up around his

name. Indeed, his character was summed up by an associate who claimed that

"Nubar is so tough that every day he tires out three stockbrokers, three

horses and three women". He was a regular face on the international

playboy scene. An aficionado of the London taxi,

he frequently stated that 'It turns on a sixpence, whatever that is!' He had two Austin FX4 cabs

converted to his own specifications, with the passenger compartment re-modelled

as the rear part of a horse-drawn Hackney

carriage, and despite their somewhat bizarre appearance, one of the

vehicles sold for £23,000 in 1993. 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".