Biography of te lawrence

British Army officer, diplomat and writer (–)

"Lawrence of Arabia" redirects here. For the film, see Lawrence of Arabia (film). For the book, see Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence.

Thomas Edward LawrenceCB DSO (16 August &#;– 19 May ) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and Lawrence's ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title used for the film based on his wartime activities.

Lawrence was born in Tremadog, Carnarvonshire, Wales, the illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Chapman, an Anglo-Irish landowner, and Sarah Junner, a governess in Chapman's employ. In , Lawrence moved to Oxford, attending the City of Oxford High School for Boys and read history at Jesus College, Oxford from to Between and , he worked as an archaeologist for the British Museum, chiefly at Carchemish in Ottoman Syria.

After the outbreak of war in , Lawrence joined the British Army and was stationed at the Arab Bureau, a military intelligence unit in Egypt. In , he travelled to Mesopotamia and Arabia on intelligence missions and became involved with the Arab revolt against Ottoman rule. Lawrence was ultimately assigned to the British Military Mission in the Hejaz as a liaison to Emir Faisal, a leader of the revolt. He participated in engagements with the Ottoman military culminating in the capture of Damascus in October

After the war's end, he joined the Foreign Office, working with Faisal. In , Lawrence retreated from public life and served as an enlisted man in the Army and Royal Air Force (RAF) until He published the Seven Pillars of Wisdom in , an autobiographical account of his participation in the Arab Revolt. Lawrence also translated books into English and w

Lawrence in popular culture

As impressive as his military feats were, it was the image that Lawrence created for himself - of the European adopting Arab dress and customs - that furthered his reputation and sealed his legend in popular culture.

In August , the American journalist Lowell Thomas launched a multimedia show in London called ‘With Allenby in Palestine’, which included a lecture, dancing and Arabic music. Lawrence had initially featured in a supporting role. But it soon became clear to Thomas that images shot of Lawrence on campaign had captured the public imagination.

Thomas arranged to photograph Lawrence again, this time wearing white robes and carrying the jambiya Sherif Nasir had given him. With these new photos he relaunched his show as ‘With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia’ in early It was extremely popular. It was seen by more than 3 million people between and , and made Lawrence a star.

In , the legend of Lawrence was renewed again with David Lean’s epic feature film Lawrence of Arabia. Its star, Peter O’Toole, was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Once again, it was Lawrence’s appearance in Arab dress that was central to the film’s marketing.

Lawrence's robes and dagger were prominent in the film. When Sherif Ali, played by Omar Sharif, burns Lawrence’s British kit before giving him his Arab robes, it is a moment of enormous dramatic and narrative significance. It marks Lawrence’s cultural transition from British officer to a member of the tribe and helps complete his cultural assimilation, making his mission more successful.

The attack on Aqaba, for which Lawrence was awarded the jambiya dagger, was no doubt overly dramatised in the film. But the dagger and the robes are the iconic items at the heart of the movie. They have shaped and dictated the prism through which we in modern Britain and elsewhere in the world - including the

Lawrence of Arabia  ©Lawrence was a British scholar, writer and soldier who mobilised the Arab Revolt in World War One and became famous as 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on 16 August in north Wales. His father, Thomas Chapman, had left his wife to live with Lawrence's mother, a governess. Lawrence studied at Oxford University and in visited Syria and Palestine. A year later he joined an archaeological dig in Syria, where he stayed from to , learning Arabic. He developed a deep sympathy for the Arabs who had lived under Turkish rule for centuries. In , Lawrence was part of an expedition exploring northern Sinai, carrying out reconnaissance under cover of a scientific expedition.

When war broke out, Lawrence became an intelligence officer in Cairo. In June , the Arab Revolt began against Turkey, an ally of Germany, a revolt the British had worked hard to encourage. Lawrence became liaison officer and adviser to Feisal (also Faisal), son of the revolt's leader Sherif Hussein of Mecca. Lawrence was a superb tactician and a highly influential theoretician of guerrilla warfare. His small but effective irregular forces attacked Turkish communications and supply routes, tying down thousands of Turkish troops and preventing them from fighting against regular allied forces under the command of General Edward Allenby. Lawrence's overriding aim was to help the Arabs achieve military success that would lead to post-war self-government.

In June , the Arab forces won their first major victory, seizing Aqaba, a strategically important Red Sea port. Success continued as they gradually made their way north. After the fall of Damascus in October , Lawrence left for London and then the Paris Peace Conferences to lobby for Arab independence. Before the conference had even begun, the British and French had agreed on the future of Turkey's Arab territories. Lawrence was disillusioned by his failure to bring the Arabs self-rule, but

book by Jeremy Wilson

Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence is a book by Jeremy Wilson about the noted historic figure T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), who helped lead the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was published in , first by William Heinemann Ltd., London, then in the United States by Atheneum, New York.

Michael Coren in the Toronto Star described this as "an unremarkable book", but it was named as one of the 14 best books of by The New York Times. Nigel Nicolson, reviewing for The New York Times, wrote "This biography will endure beside Seven Pillars as his monument, and any future book about T. E. Lawrence will be but a commentary on it."

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