Like Banquo's ghost, the part played by Britain in the fortunes of the Gulf throughout the twentieth century just will not go away. Iran was never a part of the British Empire, but it has always been at the centre of a power struggle to control the region's crude oil supplies, which the West must win at all costs. In May 1908, oil was struck in Iran, which made the fortune of a British businessman, William Knox D'Arcy, who had bought the rights in a concession in 1901. It was an eleventh-hour success though, for by 1908 he was all but bankrupt and he was forced to sell most of his rights to the Burmah Oil Company. Burmah created a subsidiary company named Anglo-Persian Oil Company and appointed D'Arcy Managing Director; and he never looked back.