Baron Avro Manhattan (April 6, 1914 – November 27, 1990) was an Italian writer, historian, poet and artist. An born aristocrat who wrote about various political topics throughout his career, Manhattan is perhaps best remembered as the author of several works discussing the Vatican's role in world politics and global affairs. Manhattan attended both the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
and the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
.
Life and career
Born in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Italy, on April 6, 1914, to American and half Swiss-Dutch parents of Jewish extraction, Manhattan was originally known as''Teofilo Lucifero Gardini'' in his early days in Italy. Before his exile, Manhattan was known to spend his summers at the home of the artist,
Paolo Troubetzkoy
Prince Paolo Petrovich Troubetzkoy (also known as Pavel or Paul; russian: Павел Петрович Трубецкой, translit=Pavel Petrovich Trubetskoy; Intra, Italy, 15 February 1866 — Pallanza, 12 February 1938) was an artist and a sc ...
, in
Verbania
Verbania (, , ) is the most populous ''comune'' (municipality) and the capital city of the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. It is situated on the shore of Lake Maggiore, about north-west of Milan and ...
.
Manhattan, himself a painter, exhibited a number of his works at local Italian museums. The last of these exhibitions was at the Museo del Paesaggio, in Verbania, where two of his paintings remain to this day.
Manhattan was exiled to England from Italy during the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, he operated a radio station called "Radio Freedom" broadcasting to nations occupied by the
Axis Powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. Manhattan officially changed residence to the United Kingdom in 1945 for "political reasons," but not until 1953 did Manhattan legally change his name, relinquishing the names "Teofilo Angelo Mario Gardini" and "Teophile Lucifer Gardini." At the time, he lived in Wimbledon, London.
In 1961, Manhattan met his future wife, Anne Manhattan ''née'' Cunningham Brown, in London, and two years later, they moved into a house on Henry Nelson Street in South Shields, North East England.
He is buried with his wife at Shotley Bridge in Benfieldside Cemetery, Consett, County Durham, England. Their gravestone reads:
His friends included
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, and scientist
Marie Stopes
Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, ...
Viktor Novak
Viktor Novak (4 February 1889 – 1 January 1977) was a Yugoslav Croat historian, professor at the University of Belgrade and full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), and a corresponding member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sci ...
Branko Bokun
Branko Bokun (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко Бокун; 28 June 1920 – 1 January 2011) was an author in the fields of sociology and psychology.
Early life
Bokun was born in Koljane, Croatia, a small village in the Dalmatian mountains of the ...
Online Books Page
The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several fea ...