Basil Zaharoff  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Basil Zaharoff, GCB, GBE (October 6 1849, Muğla, Ottoman Empire – November 27 1936, Monte Carlo, Monaco), born Basileios Zacharias, was a Turkish-born French arms trader and financier of Greek heritage, the director and chairman of the Vickers munitions firm during World War I.

Cultural references

• In the Tintin album The Broken Ear, Zaharoff is parodied as the weapon trader Basil Bazarov, who sells to both parties of a single conflict that he helps provoke.

• Zaharoff was portrayed by Leo McKern (of Rumpole of the Bailey fame) in the 1983 ITV series Reilly, Ace of Spies.

• Zaharoff was depicted in the "Lanny Budd" series by reformer Upton Sinclair.

• Zaharoff's adventures in the arms trade (particularly the machine gun sales) resemble those of the main character, Hector Sarek, in Gerald Kersh's short story, "Comrade Death". Sarek also sells arms to two (fictitious) South American countries while inciting their leaders against each other.

• Rayt Marius in Knight Templar and The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal, featuring Leslie Charteris' the Saint, appears to be based on Zaharoff, with the last referring specifically to the theft of his explosive memoirs.

• Zaharoff's Machiavellian ethic as an arms dealer was a cultural influence on Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. LaVey included Zaharoff on the dedication page to The Satanic Bible.

• In his novel, A Coffin for Dimitrios, Eric Ambler patterned Dimitrios on Sir Basil Zaharoff .

• Zaharoff appears in Thomas Pynchon novel Against the Day.

• In Ezra Pound's "Canto XVIII" and "Canto XXXVIII," Zaharoff makes numerous appearances under the name "Metevsky."

• Zaharoff was one of the inspirations for the unscrupulous arms manufacturer Andrew Undershaft in George Bernard Shaw's play Major Barbara.