Nubar Gulbenkian interview

BBC Heritage on behalf of Hugh Burnett's memory of 15th July 1959

The dapper Mr Nubar Gulbenkian seemed only too pleased to­ appear on Face to Face. I met him in his apartment in­ Piccadilly. The atmosphere was congenial and there were jokes about how he could afford to have a new razor blade every day (he sported a jaunty beard) and how he had an adapted taxi which could turn on a sixpence ('whatever that is!')

As I was leaving he ­asked if I could obtain a copy of a newsreel sequence­ of himself, waiting to greet the Shah of Persia­ arriving in London on an official visit. I said I would ask ­BBC News Division if they could get him a copy. Unknown to me Gulbenkian ­had declined a fee and did not sign a ­contract. When he went on the air in a live transmission he­ talked about his father - including a story of ­how he had sued him over a chicken meal charged to the firm­ - and won thirty thousand pounds from Mr Five per Cent. He­ made bitter remarks he had probably planned, which were considered by BBC lawyers to be both­ libellous and slanderous, about the people running the ­Gulbenkian Foundation. His inheritance had apperently been dented by the money put into that Foundation.

Soon after the transmission he contacted the BBC asking for a recording of the programme, ­which he claimed I had promised to give him. This could easily have­ been done, slander or no, because he could not have used it.­ But BBC lawyers thought differently;­ handing over a possibly defamatory recording could notionally invoke a­ court action.

Gulbenkian then sued the BBC for a copy of the­ recording. After months of meetings, affidavits and legal­ discussions we all finished up in the Law Courts. Sir Lionel ­Heald, Gulbenkian's lawyer cross-examined me, and I heard myself explaining to Sir­ Lionel that it was the practice of the BBC to pay­ interviewees money for appearances - not cans of film, or bottles. "Had you the authority to agree to offer a copy of the film?" the Judge enquired. "No," I replied.

Gulbenkian ­was refused a copy of the Face to Face tape - and awarded minuscule­ damages. But he had achieved what he appeared to want - ­the opportunity to repeat the defamatory remarks within the privilege ­of the Court, about the Gulbenkian lawyers he had attacked in the programme.

After it was all over he invited me out to dinner, possibly­ to show there was no hard feeling. I declined the­ invitation, remembering the action against his father with that chicken.

I had decided to be wary of the wily Mr Nubar Gulbenkian.

This memory was submitted to the Memoryshare web service by the BBC Heritage Team on behalf of Hugh Burnett.

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This memory was added 23rd November 2007

Keywords: London bbc Face to Face Nubar Gulbenkian BBC Memories

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