大象传媒

FrWhen the war broke out my father was in the Italian Embassy and he was rounded up and brought over to the Isle of Man. All the Italians at that time were put in Palace Camp and they formed a committee amongst themselves and actually made a list of all th Italians that were rounded up. This list is now in the Manx Museum.

He was married to an English lady when the war broke out and she came over to visit him and she was staying at one of the hotels on the promenade in Douglas. On the night of the visit he managed to escape and visit her in her bedroom, but he was missed, and he got as far as his shirt. He ended up being rounded up within 15 minutes of being gone!

When he was questioned he actually showed the guards the escape route so they could stop others escaping.

After this incident, his wife divorced him.

Eventually he ended in a work party that worked in a farm above Laxey in an area called Ballaragh, owned by a Mrs Douglas - his daughter was Mona Douglas who's was quite a famous person in the Isle of Man. She did alot for children and the Manx language.

My paternal father and mother were posted to the Isle of Man in October 1951 and then I was born 2 weeks later.

My paternal father divorced my mother when I was 18 months, then people were pushing Nikoli and my mother Rosa together as they were both foreigners. Eventually they got together and Nikoli formally adopted me. He was the first foreigner to become a naturalised Manx on the island. He eventually became Baron Giovannelli and he and Mona Douglas did lots for promotion of the Manx language together.

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