Robert Marcar “Marc” Anthony, who once modestly and incisively described himself as an Anglicised Armenian, was born on February 17, 1891 in Penang in The Straits Settlements on the Malayan Peninsula, was educated at the Dollar Academy in Scotland and, having briefly returned to the Far East after school, came back to England to live the rest of his life in London.

Referred to as the “Night Club King” by The Era in 1931, Marc spent the 1920s to the late 1940s as the undisputed leading figure in the after hours environment of some of the most popular clubs in London, attracting customers by his masterful piano playing as well as his charismatic personality. He saw the fusion of atmosphere and music as essential to a successful club and, since so few of the mushrooming establishments at that time survived very long, the fact that the ones in which he appeared lasted longer than most, pays testament to his theory.

But Marc was not just a “man at the piano”, brilliant as he was at that. He never took music lessons, couldn’t read or write music and yet he was able to hold tunes he had heard in his head and, more importantly, create melodies that became instantly memorable. He wrote numerous songs, which were extensively performed on stage, in cabaret, on screen and on radio.

Short and slight of build, with a distinctive aquiline nose, he became a central figure in the artistic milieu of London between the wars, at a time when people were looking for something different and a Bohemian plateau of society had established itself in the nation’s capital.

In the 1920s he established what became an institution in his charming and intimate flat in Chelsea. Every Sunday afternoon he would hold a soirée to which culturally distinguished folk, who had something interesting to say or do, were invited. On any given Sabbath one could be drinking tea with celebrities from the world of theatre and dance, writers and artists, in fact anyone who had caught his eye as being interesting, knowledgeable and refined.

Although he was a confirmed bachelor, he was never alone or lonely. His true and close friends numbered into the many dozens and he kept a close eye on the world around him, recording major events in a series of scrapbooks that he maintained annually from 1934 until 1970 -­‐ the year he passed away.

Marc lived simply and generously in a complicated and glorious time and this short biography is written to pay a humble homage to a gentle person, whose memory is and has been treasured by many people whose paths he crossed.