T.E. Lawrence: the archeologist turned desert warrior

Outrageous History!

Many of our images of the First World War emanated from the trenches at the European front lines. But the war was not limited to those deplorable conditions. In the Mideast, another conflict seethed as the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire along with the Allied Powers of the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and others fought to impose their spheres of influence. It was in this boiling cauldron, that a young Welsh archaeologist by the name of Thomas Edward Lawrence found himself. Lawrence was already intimately familiar with Arab customs and the language having participated in various archeological digs in the region. After enlisting in the British Army, he was catapulted into midst of the conflict as an intelligence officer and soon, leading a regiment of rebel Arab tribal fighters who engaged in guerilla warfare against the Turkish soldiers of the Ottoman Empire.

For former US Navy paratrooper and adventurer, Wells Jones, the story and journey of TE Lawrence through the Arabian desert was compelling enough for him to mount a similar route along with fellow adventurer, Miles Spence in 2005. Join Wells in conversation with Ernest Granson in this first of back-to-back podcasts examining Lawrence's life, Well's bold desert trek and the turbulence of the Mid East.