Lawerence Of Arabia visit & fords and lots more -

[Bateman]

4th June for me, followed by 21 May

 

[cookie]

i can't do 4th june

 

[DavidHale]

Sorry, can't do any of those! D'oh! Have a good trip

 

[(RIP) Jamie]

21st or 4th only for me I'm afraid.
28th with the outlaws

 

[Deleted account W]

I'm easy, just need a B&B and a pub for me and the Viscount on the Saturday night

 

[Dahoum]

Can't do the 21st Neil. Other two will be fine.

 

[Dahoum]

Have you involved LOA's rent boy (Salim Ahmed, aka Dahoum) in these plans?

Sorry to disappoint you Tim, he didn't have a rent boy (or an Arab dog )

Lawrence did not marry or live at any time with a partner, of either sex. As far as we know he never voluntarily had an intimate relationship with anyone - man or woman.

No-one who knew him well suggested that he was homosexual. Very few of his friends were homosexual. When the accusation was made publicly by Richard Aldington, twenty years after Lawrence's death, not one of his friends or contemporaries in the ranks - the people who knew him well - supported it. As far as I know only two people made this suggestion (in private correspondence) during his lifetime. Neither of them was more than a slight acquaintance, and both had very strong personal reasons to wish to discredit him. They made no secret of their general enmity.

There is independent evidence that in Oxford as a young man Lawrence was attracted to at least one girl, Janet Laurie. In 1910, soon after graduating from university, he left England to join an archaeological excavation in a remote part of Syria where there were no European women. As he spent most of his time there until the outbreak of the 1914-18 war, he had almost no opportunity to mix with the kind of girl that an Englishman of his generation might have thought suitable. Nevertheless, he seems to have had very cordial relationships with English and American women he met in the Middle East and with his Arabic teacher Fareedeh el Akle.

At the beginning of World War One Lawrence was almost certainly sexually inexperienced, as were the great majority of young officers in the British army. The sexual morality of the period was very different from morality today.

Despite many attempts by controversial biographers to claim otherwise, there are no sound reasons to disbelieve his statements in Seven Pillars of Wisdom and elsewhere that during the war, at Deraa in November 1917, he was subjected to flogging and violent male rape. Thereafter he seems to have had a profound horror of sexuality and physical contact with other human beings.

The experience at Deraa left very deep psychological scars which are evident throughout his later writings. In the mid -1920s he developed a flagellation disorder. We have little reliable information about this, but it appears that on a relatively small number of occasions (eleven or so) during the following decade he arranged secretly to have himself beaten in a ritual related to the events at Deraa. He also appears also to have suffered during these years from less extreme forms of masochistic disorder.

A number of controversial biographers, notably Richard Aldington, Desmond Stewart (himself openly homosexual), Lawrence James, and Michael Asher, have written biographies of Lawrence in which they claimed that he was gay. Neither of Lawrence's major scholarly biographers, myself and John E. Mack (a Harvard professor of psychiatry) reached that conclusion. In the T. E. Lawrence Studies website there is very detailed analysis of the case made by Michael Asher (itself largely derived from the books by James and Stewart).

Whatever Lawrence's personal difficulties in this area, he was not homophobic. His personal philosophy, throughout his adult life, was that people should be allowed to lead their own lives. In this and many other matters he was not judgmental. This tolerance has been misinterpreted. Thus, the fact that he does not condemn homosexual practices by others in Seven Pillars of Wisdom has been cited as a basis for assuming that he favoured such practices himself.

 

[Dahoum]

Which one ? he had 7 Broughs .

I know one is located in the area. kept in the owners bedroom He's turned down a million for it - I've seen it , so naa na na na naaaa

The one he died on was recently displayed at the Imperial War Museum at the impressive exhibition which ended last month. So I've seen one too - nah na na na na

 

[Dahoum]

Dahoum is a member of the Lawrence appreciation society - hence his user name.

(Not a lot of people know that)

The T E Lawrence Society, Neil

 

[The Other PaulG]

pre-reading

If you want to get the most out of this trip and do some reading-up, '7 Pillars of Wisdom' is his incredible account of his time in Arabia.... but best you start reading now 'cos it ain't exactly light reading...!

Paul G

 

[STUBBS]

cant do the b/h weekend others are fine by me

 

[Dahoum]

If you want to get the most out of this trip and do some reading-up, '7 Pillars of Wisdom' is his incredible account of his time in Arabia.... but best you start reading now 'cos it ain't exactly light reading...!

Paul G

Stuff that ! Just go to THIS HUGE WEB RESOURCE

 

[(RIP) Jamie]

Sorry to disappoint you Tim, he didn't have a rent boy (or an Arab dog )

Do you think the film also reinforced that theory? I mean, Peter O'Toole, blond hair, blue eyes, slim and with a complexion to die for?

 

[(RIP) Bin Ridin]

During a visit to Al Ula, a station on the Hijaz railway, I read a local account which described Lawrence as "a dynamite man, he showed us how to use it, that's all"....
Probably downplays his rle a bit.

Very interesting historical period, perfidious Albion and all that....
The seeds of today's instability were so carefully laid, it is hard to think it was an accident.

 

[Gaulois]

I'd be interested as well. Dates in order of preference are 21st 28th. Can't do 4th.

 

[rubyrider]

Sounds liike an excellent oppotunity for a ride out as a newbie....
4th June would suit me best, if you're adding up the dates requested...

 

[Deleted Member I]

Can't do 4th June.

 

[Jeremy]

I'm good for Sunday May 21st.

 

[Jeremy]

I'm good for Sunday May 21st.

In fact, I'd be up for leaving on the Saturday and an overnight stay in Dorset as the wife and kids are deserting me for a week at midday on May 20th. Let me know if you're up for it. I've been looking for an excuse to get a weekend away. The HP2 is looking a bit too clean.

 

[Wapping]

Hi Neil,

I am up for this jaunt. Can't say for sure about the dates so go with what suites the others, if I can make it I'll be there.

Cheers,

Richard