In Europe at the age of twenty two he sang with other leading classical singers of the world and had developed into a major stage performer.
Born in Vienna, he lived with his brother and parents close to the River Danube. His father’s manufacturing plant grew steadily and the company decided to expand into New Delhi in India. He was only three when the family left behind them their Austrian home.
He was schooled in New Delhi and later in Madras. He was a special child with a great love for all the animals he encountered in the garden of his family’s home.
When he was eight years of age the family set-off on a motorized cruiser across the Bay of Bengal, the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea to Malaysian Borneo. Shipwrecked off the coast of Sabah during a major tropical storm, he was thrown unconscious onto dry land. He suffered severe memory loss.
His life in the jungle saw him being accepted as part of an animal family until he was discovered by personnel of the United Nations. The UN had him hospitalized in Sandakan and then taken to Switzerland. There he was adopted by staff members of the UN and a new life began.
