The life of Adnan Khashoggi, who has died aged 81, did not imitate art but prompted it. The sybaritic Saudi middleman inspired the image of the influential fixer who spent his days arranging huge arms deals and meeting presidents and tycoons, and his nights partying with beautiful women aboard yachts and planes or in palatial homes.
He was the model for Harold Robbins’ bestseller The Pirate, published in 1974, though he was a rather less glamorous figure than the protagonist Baydr al Fay. The title of a 1986 book by Ronald Kessler referred to Khashoggi as The Richest Man in the World. That claim was as fictional as Robbins’ hero. Khashoggi only spent like the world’s richest man: 12 homes, 1,000 suits, $70m on his third yacht and $40m on a customised Douglas DC-8 described as a flying Las Vegas discotheque. With Khashoggi – who loathed being described as an arms dealer – more was always more.
Continue reading...