Claim: Born in Alexandria, Egypt, population 5.2million, Gilbert de Botton's mother, Yolande Harmer, was a journalist and Israeli intelligence officer who died in 1959, and his father was an oil company representative whom he saw little of.
Evidence: His mother Yolande Harmer, a journalist and Israeli intelligence officer, died in 1959. He also saw little of his father, who was an oil company representative. Yolande Gabai (later Harmer and Har-Mor) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to a Turkish-Jewish mother. With a population of 5,200,000, Alexandria is the largest city on the Mediterranean - also called the Bride of the Mediterranean by locals - the sixth-largest city in the Arab world and the ninth-largest in Africa.