An Improbable Journey

The year was 1971. Thirty-year-old Charles Lubar, a Washington DC–born Harvard Law School graduate, opted to make his next home in the UK. "Hired off the street" by two American lawyers in London, Lubar could never have predicted that his work would soon put him front and center at some of the biggest moments with some of the biggest names in showbiz. From the James Bond franchise to Linda Lovelace and Deep Throat; from Jim Henson and The Muppets to Michael Jackson and the Beatles; from behind the Iron Curtain to the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, Lubar's rare knowledge of the tax codes spanning Europe and the US made him an indispensable figure to creatives trying to make their financial lives work on both sides of the Atlantic. His list of clients goes on and on: Bill Graham, John Cleese, Santana, Diana Ross, Frank Oz, Chuck Traynor, Marilyn Chambers, Barbara Bach, Jane Seymour, Shakira, and Enrique Iglesias. Many turned to Lubar in real need of his assistance at the very prime (and sometimes, nadir) of their careers. Lubar's bona fides would even land him a spot on the US-UK Fulbright Commission, as president of the Yale Club of London, and a managing partner in London of one of the major international law firms. An Improbable Journey shows a risk-taker with his finger living right on the cultural pulse of a moment.