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Myers Literary Guide:
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The North-East
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BARON AVRO MANHATTAN (1914 - 1990) Poet, artist and writer on religious, historical and allied themes, Manhattan spent much of his later life after 1979 at the ornately decorated home of his wife's mother, 45 Henry Nelson Street, South Shields. The Baron, descended from the House of Savoy, was born in Italy to wealthy American/Dutch parents and was educated at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. Strikingly handsome in his youth, Manhattan was a member of the H.G. Wells set (and of the British Interplanetary Society), knew Bernard Shaw (whom he beat at bowls) and lived with Picasso for a while in Paris. In World War II Manhattan was jailed for refusing to serve in Mussolini's fascist army. While in prison, he wrote his first book on astronomy. Later in the war he operated 'Radio Freedom' broadcasting to occupied Europe. Manhattan was a close friend of Marie Stopes in the early 1950s. By then he had made a name with his book The Vatican in World Politics (1949) which ran to fifty editions. In all, he wrote some sixty books and published several during his South Shields period, including works on Vietnam and Ireland, the prophetic Terror over Yugoslavia in 1986 and The Dawn of Man, the fruit of 40 years of deliberation on evolutionary themes. Both he and his wife loved South Shields, though they also had houses in Kensington and Spain. The Baron found the town an ideal place to work; he often took refreshing walks along the pier and, in the summer, to Marsden. He enjoyed putting in the North Marine Park - and fish and chips and 'Broon Ale' as well.
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