Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from aarin Manky listener Discretion Advised. Twenty miles
Speaker 1: off the northern coast of France in the English Channel
Speaker 1: is a small island called Sark. Today about five hundred
Speaker 1: people live on the island two square miles of land,
Speaker 1: which is situated atop sweeping granite cliffs. No cars are allowed.
Speaker 2: On the island. The only ambulance is a converted tractor. Historically,
Speaker 2: the residents have farmed and fished, and many still do today.
Speaker 2: But there's something that makes this otherwise simply pleasant island
Speaker 2: totally unique. Until two thousand and eight, it was ruled
Speaker 2: as a feudal state. In fact, it was the very
Speaker 2: last feudal state in Europe, officially overseen by a signor
Speaker 2: or a dame, who owed allegiance only to the British Crown.
Speaker 2: Many of the island's ancient customs lasted all the way
Speaker 2: into the twenty first century. Divorce was forbidden, income tax
Speaker 2: didn't exist, and only the feudal lord was permitted to
Speaker 2: breed pigeons or own an unspayed female dog. The various
Speaker 2: lords of this peculiar island. Over the centuries included knights
Speaker 2: of Queen Elizabeth, the First, renowned statesmen serving under King
Speaker 2: George the Third, and devious privateers commissioned by Queen Victoria.
Speaker 2: But in nineteen twenty nine the title to Sark passed
Speaker 2: to an unsuspecting figure, an American businessman. A man named
Speaker 2: Robert Hathaway legally ruled Sark from nineteen twenty nine until
Speaker 2: his death in nineteen fifty four. His tenure was anything
Speaker 2: but uneventful. In nineteen forty the German army seized the island,
Speaker 2: and in nineteen forty one a story broke out in
Speaker 2: American newspapers that Robert, lovingly referred to as Bob by
Speaker 2: his family, had been forced to plow the fields of
Speaker 2: his island alongside his wife, Sibyl. The New York Daily
Speaker 2: News reported quote, Cabbages and kings turn out to have
Speaker 2: something in common. After all. Bob was allowed to send
Speaker 2: letters to his relatives in America, but German censorship made
Speaker 2: it nearly impossible to convey the gravity of their situation.
Speaker 2: In the middle of the English Channel, the first American
Speaker 2: lord of the last fiefdom in Europe languished alongside his neighbors.
Speaker 2: Robert had never planned to become a feudal lord. He
Speaker 2: had simply fallen in love with Sybil. He never planned
Speaker 2: to stand side by side with the people of this
Speaker 2: tiny Channel island amidst a war. But today he and
Speaker 2: his wife both stand as two of the many heroes
Speaker 2: in Sark's hallowed history. I'm Danish Schwartz and you're listening
Speaker 2: to noble blood. In fifteen sixty three, Queen Elizabeth the
Speaker 2: First of England granted the island of Sark to one
Speaker 2: Sir Helier Decarterret. Queen Elizabeth inherited many islands in the
Speaker 2: English Channel. Some were large, like the isles Guernsey and Jersey,
Speaker 2: and some, like Sark, were tiny. Worried about a French
Speaker 2: invasion and annoyed by pirate plaguing the English Channel, Elizabeth's
Speaker 2: court stipulated that carter Itt bring forty men to Sark
Speaker 2: from Jersey, each armed with muskets, in order to protect
Speaker 2: and cultivate the land. To this day, descendants of those
Speaker 2: first forty families still live on Sark. Until very recently,
Speaker 2: those families retained the old custom of organizing a town
Speaker 2: council that appointed a judge clerk and sheriff, all overseen
Speaker 2: by the island lord, who held a limited veto power.
Speaker 2: The island itself passed through many hands over the centuries.
Speaker 2: Usually it was sold by a signor or dame who
Speaker 2: was hard for cash. Such was the case centuries later
Speaker 2: when the great great grandfather of Sibyl Collings bought the
Speaker 2: island of Sark in eighteen forty four because its former
Speaker 2: landowner could no longer run its silver mines profitably. In
Speaker 2: Sibyl's autobiography, she describes her grandfather as a t and
Speaker 2: skilled statesman. In contrast, this is how she describes her
Speaker 2: own father, William, who would become lord after his father quote, Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: my father was extremely insubordinate, madly obstinate, fiercely self opinionated,
Speaker 2: and prone to outbursts of uncontrolled rage. Needless to say,
Speaker 2: Sybil did not get along with her father growing up.
Speaker 2: She was forcibly sent off to a convent in France
Speaker 2: against her will at fourteen. After she returned, she considered
Speaker 2: marrying a British army officer who allegedly fell madly in
Speaker 2: love with her. Sybil's mother broached the topic of that
Speaker 2: marriage to Sybil's father but that only made him furious.
Speaker 2: One night, Sybil bravely demanded that her father let her
Speaker 2: do as she wished. Three weeks later, her father woke
Speaker 2: her up in the middle of the night and violently
Speaker 2: threw her out of the house. If it weren't for
Speaker 2: the secret intervention of Sybil's mother, Sybil wouldn't have been
Speaker 2: able to escape the island safely or rendezvous with her
Speaker 2: British officer Dudley in London for their wedding. In nineteen
Speaker 2: o nine, the couple settled down in England and had
Speaker 2: their first child, a daughter, Bridget, the following year. This
Speaker 2: prompted Sibyl's father, William, to reconnect with his daughter, congratulating
Speaker 2: her but also lamenting that she hadn't given birth to
Speaker 2: a son. In his first letter to Sybil after a
Speaker 2: whole year of silence, he wrote, quote, sorry it was
Speaker 2: a vixen. Sybil occasionally returned to Sark, sometimes tending to
Speaker 2: her ailing mother, other times preventing her father from damaging
Speaker 2: the island's reputation any more than he already had. In
Speaker 2: her own words, quote he had never provided me with
Speaker 2: a settlement, nor given me a penny, but I was
Speaker 2: his heir, and I loved the island passionately, more than
Speaker 2: anything or anyone in the world. When the time came,
Speaker 2: I intended to do as much for Sark as my
Speaker 2: grandfather had done. This was my future, and I had
Speaker 2: no intention of allowing father to take it away from me.
Speaker 2: Sybil officially moved back to Sark in nineteen twelve with
Speaker 2: her children and took up cattle breeding. When her husband,
Speaker 2: Dudley unexpectedly passed away from the Spanish flu in nineteen eighteen,
Speaker 2: she was left with nothing but a widow's pension to
Speaker 2: raise six children on. Her father refused every request for money,
Speaker 2: Sybil had no choice but to move wherever she could
Speaker 2: to support her family, from the nearby island of Guernsey
Speaker 2: to Germany. Finally, in nineteen twenty seven, after a forty
Speaker 2: five year reign, Sibyl's father died and Sybil took over
Speaker 2: Sark with a new vision for the island. She assured
Speaker 2: her five hundred or so subjects that she would maintain
Speaker 2: the traditions of the past, and then proceeded to lead
Speaker 2: a whole slew of changes, from a new harbor to
Speaker 2: renovations on the family's manor to reinstating tithes of wheat
Speaker 2: and chickens to help fund all the projects. Her intention
Speaker 2: was partly to make the island more suitable for tourists,
Speaker 2: largely English tourists. Some of the culturally French Islanders feared
Speaker 2: becoming Anglicized. Even while the new Dame of Sark was
Speaker 2: busy reinventing the island, she found time to travel and
Speaker 2: schmooze with the wealthy and well connected. Before embarking on
Speaker 2: a holiday to the United States, a friend in London
Speaker 2: insisted that she dine with an American businessman named Bob Hathaway.
Speaker 2: Bob was not an aristocrat, but he did come from
Speaker 2: an elite, distinguished American family. His father was a Wall
Speaker 2: Street banker, and his family had made it big in
Speaker 2: the publishing industry. He had graduated from Yale in nineteen
Speaker 2: thirteen and then with friends, had enlisted in the United
Speaker 2: Kingdom's Royal Flying Corps to support the Allies in the
Speaker 2: First World War. Bob was an avid golfer and tennis player,
Speaker 2: but if there was one thing he loved more than sports,
Speaker 2: it was gin. He joked with Sybil that he left
Speaker 2: the US for the UK because of prohibition In fact,
Speaker 2: he had actually moved to London to work with the
Speaker 2: sporting goods company Spoulding, Yes, the same one famous for
Speaker 2: their basketballs. But Bob insisted that he only took the
Speaker 2: job because of the free golf balls. If there's one
Speaker 2: thing that shines about Bob through the fragments that we
Speaker 2: have of him, it's his sense of humor, which was
Speaker 2: no doubt a plus for Sibyl throughout their whirlwind courtship.
Speaker 2: The day after they got to know each other over lunch,
Speaker 2: Sybil boarded her ship for her vacation in America, and
Speaker 2: she found her cabin full of flowers sent by Bob.
Speaker 2: When she reached New York, Bob's older brother, Stuart and
Speaker 2: his wife Helen warmly welcomed and hosted Sibyl. When Sybil
Speaker 2: boarded the boat for her return of voyage, she was
Speaker 2: greeted with even more flowers from Bob and a message
Speaker 2: inviting her to dinner when she arrived back in London.
Speaker 2: Sybil recollects quote, it had become clear that this tall,
Speaker 2: lean Yankee was not only an entertaining companion, but a
Speaker 2: very determined man. I am a strong minded woman, but
Speaker 2: this time I had met my match. It took no
Speaker 2: longer than three weeks for the two of them to
Speaker 2: decide to get married in nineteen twenty nine. The tabloids
Speaker 2: pounced on their wedding as another curio streaming from the
Speaker 2: all already curious Channel Islands. Headlines on London papers read
Speaker 2: woman Ruler to wed and woman Ruler's romance. One paper
Speaker 2: even described Bob as Sibyl's consort. He did, after all,
Speaker 2: willingly give up his job to go live with her
Speaker 2: on the island. When the newly wedded couple reached Sark,
Speaker 2: they were greeted by a whole procession of islanders carrying
Speaker 2: flags and flowers. Upon seeing the small island that would
Speaker 2: be home for the rest of his life, Bob jokingly
Speaker 2: complained that there was nowhere to install his own golf course.
Speaker 2: But Bob was in for an even greater surprise than
Speaker 2: no golf on the island. As Sybil remembered it, Bob
Speaker 2: turned to her and said, I never knew the Dame
Speaker 2: of Sark was such an important person. Why they treated
Speaker 2: you like royalty? Sybil gave him a smug look, my
Speaker 2: poor Bob, You've got a shock coming to you. The
Speaker 2: signor of Sark is a more important person than Ladame.
Speaker 2: Under our old feudal laws, a husband owns everything that
Speaker 2: his wife possesses, and this applies to the lordship of
Speaker 2: the land. Bob sat there, dumbfounded. At first, he was resistant.
Speaker 2: The both of them left Sark after a week for
Speaker 2: the Isle of Guernsey, where Sybil called upon an expert
Speaker 2: of feudal law who confirmed Bob's worst fears. To make
Speaker 2: matters even more complicated to the new Yankee royal divorce
Speaker 2: was not legal according to Sark's ancient custom. Lawfully, Bob
Speaker 2: of America had become a feudal lord of Europe, and
Speaker 2: there wasn't anything he could do about it. Make no mistake,
Speaker 2: Just because Bob Hathaway legally ruled over Sark doesn't mean
Speaker 2: he did so in practice. Like the king he was,
Speaker 2: Bob was happy to relinquish any real power vested in
Speaker 2: him to Sibyl, who carried on her administration of the island.
Speaker 2: Bob would officially preside over council meetings, but he needed
Speaker 2: Sibyl's help translating the French petois the locals spoke. He
Speaker 2: never voiced an opinion unless one was asked of him.
Speaker 2: American journalists who visited the island and had heard about
Speaker 2: the American Lord were surprised to find that Bob wore
Speaker 2: ordinary clothes, and when visitors stopped to ask him questions,
Speaker 2: he would just respond that he was a visitor too.
Speaker 2: As Sybil remembered it, Bob fit right in. He grew
Speaker 2: to love the fishing and farming that living on the
Speaker 2: island entailed. In times of difficulty, he supported Sibil with
Speaker 2: a compassion and a partnership that starkly contrasted with her
Speaker 2: childhood experiences of her parents. Many settling into sark also
Speaker 2: didn't mean relinquishing their holidays. The newly wedded couple traveled
Speaker 2: with Bob's mother to Germany and France in the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 2: Sybil voyaged to the British colony of Burma. In nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty six. They returned to the United States, taking trains
Speaker 2: from New York to Washington, d c. To San Francisco,
Speaker 2: whining and dining with politicians, Hollywood stars, and famed industrialists
Speaker 2: abroad in America, Sibyl took the opportunity to spread the
Speaker 2: word about her tiny home island. In nineteen thirty two,
Speaker 2: she penned an article about Sark for the National Geographic
Speaker 2: that intrigued the editors so much that she was later
Speaker 2: invited in nineteen thirty eight to deliver a lecture in Washington.
Speaker 2: That was just the start of a whole lecture tour
Speaker 2: that heaped more and more intrigue upon the exotic island
Speaker 2: void of cars, income tax, unemployment, unions, or real politicians.
Speaker 2: But when Sybil and Bob returned to Sark, it was
Speaker 2: to face an unpleasant reality. War was beginning to brew
Speaker 2: in Europe. On September one, nineteen thirty nine, Nazi Germany
Speaker 2: invaded Poland. The United Kingdom declared war on Germany two
Speaker 2: days later. The following months were unnerving for an isolated
Speaker 2: island nation. At first, the only thing that really changed
Speaker 2: for the people of Sark were the BBC radio reports,
Speaker 2: which documented the first stages of the German campaign. The
Speaker 2: war became just a little more real when news broke
Speaker 2: that Germany invaded Belgium, and then that it had invaded France.
Speaker 2: On June ninth, nineteen forty the residents of Sark could
Speaker 2: see off toward the coast of France, a dark plume
Speaker 2: of smoke drifting upwards. The French were blowing up oil
Speaker 2: storage tanks before making their retreat. Refugees from the continent
Speaker 2: passed through Guernsey and Jersey, delivering news of the invasion.
Speaker 2: The British army reasoned that they could not protect the
Speaker 2: Channel island, which were so far from British shores, so
Speaker 2: they called back their entire military presence and took in
Speaker 2: any islander who wanted to flee. Sybil reassured her neighbors
Speaker 2: that she would stay put. Occupation would be difficult, and
Speaker 2: they might go hungry, but they had their land and
Speaker 2: they had their farms. In the end, no sarkborne person
Speaker 2: decided to leave. All they could do was sit and
Speaker 2: wait for the enemy to come. Sybil anticipated German officers
Speaker 2: would want to speak to her to discuss the terms
Speaker 2: of their occupation. She was eager to project confidence and
Speaker 2: strength against the invaders. She worked with Bob to rearrange
Speaker 2: their manner such that the couple would appear imperious to visitors.
Speaker 2: For example, she rearranged the drawing room in her house
Speaker 2: so that their visitors would have to walk a long
Speaker 2: distance before settling down at the table. She instructed their
Speaker 2: maid to announce the officers as though they were any
Speaker 2: other guest. As the German officers approached the manner, Sybil
Speaker 2: noted that they wiped their shoes before coming in. She
Speaker 2: took that to be at least a small good sign
Speaker 2: the Germans intended to deal with the locals with at
Speaker 2: least some hospitality. Two Nazi officers visited her and Bob
Speaker 2: on that day, and they produced a document with new
Speaker 2: orders for the island, a curfew, confiscation of all firearms,
Speaker 2: the banning of alcohol, no assembly of more than five persons,
Speaker 2: and no one was to leave the island without express permission.
Speaker 2: The rulers of Sark had no choice but to accept
Speaker 2: the demands, though it's notable that they were the only
Speaker 2: leaders of any of the Channel islands who never once
Speaker 2: signed any German orders. The Nazi army officially took control
Speaker 2: over Sark with ten soldiers on July fourth. Bob our
Speaker 2: American remarked that it was quote a hell of a
Speaker 2: day on which to be occupied. Sark's people found small
Speaker 2: ways of rebelling right from the get go. Sybil prominently
Speaker 2: displayed banned anti fascist books in her home. She and
Speaker 2: Bob never turned over their banned radio set, which would
Speaker 2: prove to be a lifesaver over the next five years.
Speaker 2: The soldiers were especially concerned that sarks Fi fishermen could
Speaker 2: use their boats to escape to England, despite the fact
Speaker 2: that no fishing boat could ever make it that far.
Speaker 2: The Germans set up a fixed time of day for fishing,
Speaker 2: an absurd proposition to the island, who knew that fishing
Speaker 2: depended on the tide, which was often unpredictable. The Germans
Speaker 2: relented and allowed the fishermen on their tiny boats throughout
Speaker 2: the day, but only if accompanied by a soldier. The
Speaker 2: Sark fishermen reportedly had loads of fun steering their boats
Speaker 2: into big waves and watching the soldiers get sick. The
Speaker 2: people of Sark had virtually no contact with the outside world,
Speaker 2: and so relied almost entirely on the Germans for their news.
Speaker 2: They didn't know the Nazis failed to invade Britain, they
Speaker 2: could only hope for Allied victories. Bob Sibil and almost
Speaker 2: every other person on Sark were simply concerned with sur
Speaker 2: Over the first year of the occupation, the island ran
Speaker 2: out of sugar, tea, coffee, and tobacco. They couldn't count
Speaker 2: on food imports, so they made do with lobsters from
Speaker 2: their coast and rabbits from their fields. As American newspaper
Speaker 2: readers were soon to find out, the King and Queen
Speaker 2: of the island were forced to grow their own cabbages.
Speaker 2: These difficult conditions took a turn for the worse in
Speaker 2: nineteen forty two, when five British commandos conducted a secret
Speaker 2: operation on Sark to gather intelligence and capture prisoners. The
Speaker 2: commandos broke into the home of a woman named Missus Prittert,
Speaker 2: who helped them locate some of the German soldiers on
Speaker 2: the island, but the tiny British invading force was able
Speaker 2: to capture only one German soldier before sailing away. The
Speaker 2: Germans used the invasion to justify clamp down on the locals.
Speaker 2: Even more soldiers unspooled miles of barbed wire around the
Speaker 2: island's perimeter. They also placed thirteen thousand land mines around
Speaker 2: the island's cliffs. Sibil wrote that the mines were sometimes
Speaker 2: put on top of the island's best agricultural land. The
Speaker 2: Germans had already deported thirteen Sark residents early in nineteen
Speaker 2: forty two. By February nineteen forty three, they called for
Speaker 2: another sixty three people. Bob was among them. Bob and
Speaker 2: Sibil were well aware of the horrors of German camps
Speaker 2: thanks to their illegal radio. They also knew that fighting
Speaker 2: back would be pointless. In Sibyl's recollections, Bob was the
Speaker 2: rock that had gotten her through the occupation. He continued
Speaker 2: to help oversee the island's finances and policies, of course,
Speaker 2: but more in poor certainly, his companionship had offered a
Speaker 2: space to resist and laugh amidst their absurd and horrific conditions.
Speaker 2: We don't have any written reflections of this time from Bob,
Speaker 2: but we can expect that he thought similarly of Sibyl.
Speaker 2: The day of Bob's departure was cold and wet. Rain
Speaker 2: pelted down from a gray sky and showered all the parents'
Speaker 2: children and partners, who were bidding farewell to their loved ones,
Speaker 2: unsure how long they'd be apart. Bob joined prisoners from
Speaker 2: other Channel islands at Laffen, a small medieval town in
Speaker 2: Bavaria with a castle that the Nazis converted into a
Speaker 2: prisoner of war camp. As one might expect, the living
Speaker 2: conditions in the camp were horrid. Plenty of prisoners were
Speaker 2: kept at the brink of starvation. Sybil was able to
Speaker 2: mail letters to Laufen, and Bob was able to send
Speaker 2: messages to friends in England who could pass censored notes
Speaker 2: to Sybil. Eventually, Sybil tried sending her husband more than
Speaker 2: just letters. She would give over onions which might at
Speaker 2: least provide some flavor to his soups. In addition to
Speaker 2: small doses of illegal whiskey and brandy that she sent
Speaker 2: in inconspicuous medicine bottles, she sent what she could, even
Speaker 2: as the Germans cut the island's rations again in nineteen
Speaker 2: forty three. Sybil wasn't too worried about the adults on
Speaker 2: the island, but she feared greatly for the island's children,
Speaker 2: who never had a steady supply of milk. Germany's victories
Speaker 2: were being reversed throughout early nineteen forty four, but nothing
Speaker 2: boosted the morale of the Sark inhabitants as much as
Speaker 2: news of D Day. A German doctor whispered news of
Speaker 2: the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy, mere miles
Speaker 2: from the Channel Islands. Secret news passed by way of pamphlet,
Speaker 2: illegal radio, or word of mouth, and it all helped
Speaker 2: counteract the German propaganda that painted Britain as a sea
Speaker 2: of flames and the rest of the Allies as totally inept.
Speaker 2: As retaliation, after d Day, the Germans once again severely
Speaker 2: cut the rations of the Channel Islanders. The people of
Speaker 2: Sark celebrated their annual harvest festival with mere symbolic gestures
Speaker 2: because no one could exchange the typical gifts of soap, bread, tobacco,
Speaker 2: butter or eggs. The days dragged on and the people
Speaker 2: of Sark had less and less. When the Allies cut
Speaker 2: off the German army stationed in the Channel Islands from
Speaker 2: the continent, Sark's occupiers began cutting their own rations. Some
Speaker 2: began sealing the local cows, pigs, and chickens to eat.
Speaker 2: Others were so desperate that they stole cats and dogs.
Speaker 2: The German officers scrambled to preserve some authority in the
Speaker 2: final months of the occupation, but they could do little
Speaker 2: in the face of an inevitable counter attack. On May seventh,
Speaker 2: nineteen forty five, all the inhabitants of Sark gathered around
Speaker 2: Sibyl's radio to hear Winston Churchill addressed the Channel Islands
Speaker 2: and declared that they were free. The Dame of Sark
Speaker 2: was granted full authority over the island by the incoming
Speaker 2: British army. Her first orders were for the German soldiers
Speaker 2: to install a telephone line at her house, to remove
Speaker 2: all of the land mines that they had laid around,
Speaker 2: and to hand back everyone's radios. Seemingly overnight, it was
Speaker 2: German officers coming to Sibyl for their orders. Survived the occupation,
Speaker 2: Weary but resilient, Bob and Sybil had a bitter sweet reunion.
Speaker 2: She wrote of him, quote the moment I caught sight
Speaker 2: of him at the harbor, I realized that he must
Speaker 2: not guess for my expression how his appearance shook me.
Speaker 2: He had always been a lean man. Now he was
Speaker 2: nothing more than a bag of bones. Getting back to
Speaker 2: a normal routine took time, but Sark and its people
Speaker 2: grew vigorous once more. Experts from the Ministry of Health
Speaker 2: came to examine the island children. New doctors and school
Speaker 2: teachers were hired for the island. Sybil and Bob worked
Speaker 2: tirelessly to fund a new Harbor. The Hathaways left to
Speaker 2: visit Bob's family in America in nineteen forty six, and
Speaker 2: Sybil embarked on a North American lecture tour once again.
Speaker 2: There was one occasion in Toronto where she and speak.
Speaker 2: Due to losing her voice, Bob took over, but disregarded
Speaker 2: all of her notes. He delivered a handful of funny remarks,
Speaker 2: and the Toronto papers heralded him as quote a new
Speaker 2: star with a wit as dry as paper. The high
Speaker 2: point of this post war era for Sark was probably
Speaker 2: a royal visit in nineteen forty nine, which coincided with
Speaker 2: the completion of the new Harbor. Nearly the whole island
Speaker 2: gathered at the harbor to welcome then Princess Elizabeth and
Speaker 2: Prince Philip, and it was Bob who began the official
Speaker 2: ceremony with an address to the royal couple that recounted
Speaker 2: Sark's history since the days of Elizabeth the First. A
Speaker 2: video of his speech can actually be found on YouTube,
Speaker 2: and you'll notice that in the middle of it, a
Speaker 2: stray dog wanders through the crowd and goes up to
Speaker 2: the future Queen Elizabeth the Second for a pet It
Speaker 2: appears that all of the subjects of Sark wanted to
Speaker 2: pay their respects to the Crown. Sark had more than
Speaker 2: just recovered from the five years of perilous occupation. Sybil's
Speaker 2: dream of converting the island into a tourist attraction succeeded
Speaker 2: thanks both to her extensive lecture series and the New Harbor,
Speaker 2: a royal visit publicized on the BBC. No doubt helped
Speaker 2: as well. Her autobiography speaks to her bold personality and
Speaker 2: fighting spirit. Sybil never backed down from her father, from
Speaker 2: family crises, or from the German occupation. What of Bob,
Speaker 2: What sort of impact did he have on Sark, and
Speaker 2: what sort of imprint did Sark leave on him? Only
Speaker 2: five weeks before Bob's death, he and Sibil through an
Speaker 2: island wide party in nineteen fifty four to celebrate their
Speaker 2: twenty fifth wedding anniversary, replete with barrels of wine and
Speaker 2: wedding cake. He raised his glass and delivered these lines
Speaker 2: to the people of Sark, his unexpected fiefdom quote. I
Speaker 2: shall not call you ladies and gentlemen, but just my friends,
Speaker 2: for you have given me your friendship, which I have
Speaker 2: valued for twenty five years. That's the strange story of
Speaker 2: the Dame and Lord of Sark during the occupation. But
Speaker 2: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a
Speaker 2: little bit more about the idiosyncrasies of Sark. Sark's history
Speaker 2: of strange and unexpected events did not end with Robert
Speaker 2: and Sybil Hathaway. In nineteen ninety, an unemployed nuclear physicist
Speaker 2: named Andre Gardis conducted a one man invasion of Sark.
Speaker 2: He believed himself the rightful heir to the throne of
Speaker 2: the island, so naturally he printed out and posted up
Speaker 2: notices around Sark expressing his intention to take over. The
Speaker 2: following day, the only law enforcement on the island, the
Speaker 2: volunteer police officer, went off looking for Andre. He found
Speaker 2: him sitting on a park bench dressed in military gear,
Speaker 2: loading an automatic rifle. According to one story, all the
Speaker 2: constable had to do was compliment Andre on his choice
Speaker 2: of weapon and ask him if he could inspect it
Speaker 2: more closely. Andre obliged, handing the constable the rifle, and
Speaker 2: then he got punched in the face. Andrea was arrested
Speaker 2: and in one fell swoop. The most ambitious invasion attempt
Speaker 2: of Sark came to an end. It's not entirely clear
Speaker 2: what happened to Honor and afterwards, because Sark does not
Speaker 2: really have a jail. Noble Blood is a production of
Speaker 2: iHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble
Speaker 2: Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts, with additional writing
Speaker 2: and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick, Courtney Sender, Julia Milani,
Speaker 2: and Armand Cassam. The show is edited and produced by
Speaker 2: Noemy Griffin and rima Ill Kali, with supervising producer Josh
Speaker 2: Thain and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.