At the outbreak of World War II, Forte was interned in the Isle of Man due to his Italian nationality, but he was released after only three months.

Happy Eater and the five Welcome Break major road service outlets were bought from Hanson Trust PLC on 1 August 1986.

Lord Forte passed full control to his son Rocco in 1993, but soon the plc was faced with a hostile takeover bid from Granada.

In January 1943, Forte married Irene Mary, daughter of Giovanni Chierico, of Venice; her family ran a delicatessen on Wardour Street, Soho.

After her father's death when she was 17, she ran the family shop for three months whilst her mother was in Italy; it was destroyed by a bomb during the Blitz in 1940.

[10] From the 1950s, Forte lived with an extended family including his parents and children at Greenway Gardens in Frognal, Hampstead, London.