Weiss was born in Milan, Italy.
After spending his later childhood in Rome, he came to Britain to study law at Oxford University.
He worked for a short time from 1932–1933 in the Department of Western Manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, and obtained his D.Phil from Oxford in 1934, in the same year winning the Charles Oldham prize.
He was naturalised British in 1934.
The author John Buchan became his friend and mentor.
He also met the novelist Barbara Pym, who later used him as the basis for the character Count Ricardo Bianco in her first novel, Some Tame Gazelle (1950), which she had begun writing while at Oxford.
During World War II, between 1942 and 1945, he served in the British Royal Artillery in a non-combatant role.
Weiss was born in Milan, Italy. After spending his later childhood in Rome, he came to Britain to study law at Oxford University. He worked for a short time from 1932–1933 in the Department of Western Manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, and obtained his D.Phil from Oxford in 1934, in the same year winning the Charles Oldham prize. He was naturalised British in 1934. The author John Buchan became his friend and mentor. He also met the novelist Barbara Pym, who later used him as the basis for the character Count Ricardo Bianco in her first novel, Some Tame Gazelle (1950), which she had begun writing while at Oxford. During World War II, between 1942 and 1945, he served in the British Royal Artillery in a non-combatant role.
Roberto Weiss