Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) was born in 1888, and educated at Jesus College, Oxford.
He was a keen cyclist; a polyglot, knowing French, German, Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Turkish; a lover of speed, collecting motorbikes and while in the RAF he worked on high-speed boats; an amateur printer and book-designer; and an assistant archaeologist, knowing and working with Gertrude Bell, Leonard Woolley, and Flinders Petrie. His friends included George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, E. M. Forster, John Buchan, Augustus John, and Robert Graves.
His claim to fame was his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916-18, fighting with Arab troops under the command of Emir Faisal.
Lawrence was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident, and died on 19 May 1935. He was 46.