Sydney Partridge, born in London 1922, tells us of the time an Emperor came to Ventnor. Sydney lived in Ventnor from the age of 2 with his parents and brother, Eric.

'Around 1936, the Italians invaded Abysinia from their colonies in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. In this war between modern weapons and primitive tribes, it was only a matter of time before the Italians won and Mussolini (the Italian dictator, 'il Duce') was strutting about, sticking out his chin and haranguing the crowds about the 'New Roman Empire'. As well as calling the Mediterranean Sea 'Mare Nostrum' (our sea) and building up a substantial Navy.

That war had a slight impact on Ventnor, insofar as the impoverished Emperor of Abysinia, Haile Selassie, fled his country and sought refuge in Britain staying, economically at the third best hotel in Ventnor, with his large family. One day I saw him and some of his family at very close range, coming out of the hotel on the seafront and getting into a car.

Several years later, around 1941, after British forces drove the Italians out of Abysinia, he was reinstated as Emperor.'