(The Undying One)
'Sometimes I amuse myself, not by making people believe, but by letting them believe, that I have lived from time immemorial.'
Script written by Jonquil Anthony. Additional material supplied by Lieut.-Commander Rupert T. Gould
Production by John Richmond
This is the first of a new series which will deal with a number of queer occurrences and personalities. The Comte de Saint-Germain, who first appeared in London in 1745, was certainly one of the great mysteries of his time. Claiming to be hundreds of years old, and speaking of famous historical personalities as though they were well known to him, he drifted through the contemporary scene in England and France--where he was an intimate of Louis XV and la Pompadour-marvelled at by all who observed him. He is well named the will o' the wisp of memoir writers, for no reference to him is found in any authentic state paper, yet Horace Walpole wrote of him: He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole, a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople, a priest, a fiddler. a vast nobleman '.
The Comte de Saint-Germain was said not only to possess the Elixir of Life. but to have the secret of removing flaws from diamonds. Who he actually was, and how he kept up his magnificent masquerade, nobody knows. Some associated him with Moses and others with the mysterious Muscovite adviser of the Dalai Lama.
(Empire Programme)