Lawrence of Arabia

From time to time people ask about Lawrence of Arabia, both during and after the war. There is a new book, "With Lawrence in the Royal Air Force" by Paul Tunbridge (Buckland Publications, Sevenoaks, Kent, $ 21.00 U.S.) dealing with his postwar career. Not having read any more than a review, I cannot comment on its content. The review appears in "Military History", issue of June 2001 and more or less says the book is long on narrative, short on analysis and discrete as to Lawrence's private peculiarities.

Of further interest would be Robert Graves' GOODBYE TO ALL THAT, his autobiography; he is probably better known as the author of I, CLAUDIUS and CLAUDIUS THE GOD (BTW, the very first book I read was his THE GREEK MYTHS when I was 2-and-a-half; someone was kind enough to leave it in my crib-- ahem, but I digress...).
Graves and Lawrence were roommates "up" at Oxford after the war; Graves commented on Lawrence's extreme aversion to being touched, as well as his astounding command of English. The section concerning Lawrence is only a few pages, but well worth reading, as is the book itself: Graves gives an account of fighting in the trenches, as well as being wounded and reported as KIA during the Somme...

[Stephanie]

I believe that there is an amusing section on Lawrence trying to join the RFC/RAF post-war in the published memoirs of W.E. Johns, the author of the much-loved Biggles books. I'm not sure what the name of the book is - "By Jove Biggles" I think - nor am I sure how accurate the account is, given Johns' propensity for exaggeration, but it is quite entertaining and a fragment not to be missed by lawrence fans.