When Calouste Gulbenkian died in 1955 at the age of 86, he was the richest man in the world, known as Mr Five Per Cent for his personal share of Middle East oil. The son of a wealthy Armenian merchant in Istanbul, for half a century, he brokered top-level oil deals, concealing his mysterious web of business interests and contacts within a labyrinth of Asian and European cartels, and convincing governments and oil barons alike of his impartiality as an "honest broker." 

Gulbenkian's private life was as labyrinthine as his business dealings. He insisted on the highest 'moral values', yet ruthlessly used his wife's charm as a hostess to further his career, and demanded complete obedience from his family, whom he monitored obsessively. Meanwhile, he built up a superb art collection which included Rembrandt and other treasures from the Hermitage Museum. 

The book Mr Five Per Cent reveals Gulbenkian's complex and many-sided existence. Written with full access to the Gulbenkian Foundation's archives, this is the fascinating story of the man who more than anyone else helped to shape the modern oil industry.