Thomas Edward Lawrence (of Arabia and Beyond) Quiz

Answer: Thomas Edward Chapman

Lawrence's legal name at his death was "Thomas Edward Shaw". He adopted the name "Shaw" out of affection for the British playwright, George Bernard Shaw. "Ned Lawrence" was his boyhood nickname. "John Hume Ross" was the name under which he served in the Royal Air Force. Ironically, "Thomas Edward Chapman" would have been his name if his father had not adopted the surname of the father of the the governess with whom he started his second, illegitimate family.

It was not, however, a name Lawrence ever used.

Answer: O'Toole is almost a foot taller than Lawrence

Lawrence was actually Anglo-Irish, with a ruddy complexion and blue eyes. He had no speech defect. He was 5'4" in height, whereas O'Toole is 6'3".

Answer: John Osborne

Rattigan's play, "Ross" played in London and New York just prior to the release of the movie, "Lawrence of Arabia". Lawrence actually saw a performance of George Bernard Shaw's play about him, "Too True To Be Good". Auden (writing with Christopher Isherwood) authored the play about TEL, "The Ascent of F6", which explores the concept of heroism. John Osborne wrote plays, but not about Lawrence.

Answer: Gertrude Margaret Bell

Charles Gordon, "Gordon of Khartoum", was killed in Egypt three years before Lawrence was born. Sir Richard Burton died in 1890, when Lawrence was a child. Frederick Courtney Selous was an explorer and adventurer in Africa. Gertrude Bell, considered the mother of modern Mesopotamian archeology, was well-known to Lawrence, since she served as secretary to the High Commissioner of Baghdad during WWI.

Answer: Speed

Lawrence satisfied his love of speed primarily with a series of motorbikes like the one upon which he was killed in 1935. According to Ronald Storrs, Lawrence once raced an airplane and led it for fifteen minutes on the open ground. Of course planes were slower in those days.

Answer: Jesus College, Oxford

Lawrence attended Jesus College on a Welsh scholarship. Later, he received a fellowship from Magdalen College to pursue research archaeology in Carchemish. He had no academic connection to Cambridge or Dublin.

Answer: St. Matthew's Church, Moreton, Dorset

Lawrence's mother and brother picked the gravesite in the tiny country churchyard.

Answer: The Bible

Proverbs, from the Bible. "Wisdom hath builded a house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars."

Answer: The terms of the Sykes-Picot Treaty which left Syria, Iraq and Jordan firmly in the hands of the French and British.

Lawrence did go to Paris after the war. Winston Churchill was a great supporter of Lawrence. Although Hussein apparently did make overtures toward the Turks, Lawrence was fully aware of his activities and unsurprised. Lawrence was known to attend Lowell Thomas's famous lectures and appeared to have a love-hate relationship with his fame.

Answer: The Beatles

The album is "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

Answer: Lawrence lost it at the Reading Railway Station.

Heartbreaking for him and for us. There was an earlier book of the same title that Lawrence wrote BEFORE the war, about seven Middle Eastern cities. He burned this earlier manuscript, but kept the title.

Answer: Andre Malraux

Though the beloved of guerillas and existentialists, Lawrence was especially revered and emulated by the intellectual, adventuresome former French Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux, who described himself as TE's "spiritual son".

Answer: The incident at Deraa

There is credible evidence that Lawrence's capture and violation at Deraa could not have occurred as described. Taking Aqaba by land was one of Lawrence's most brilliant military feats. He repeatedly dynamited the Turkish railroad, never entirely destroying it, but keeping the Turks occupied with repairs. No one has come forward to dispute the camel incident and there is no reason to question it.

Answer: August 16, 1888

Lawrence was born August, 16, 1888, in Tremadoc, Wales.

Answer: The Art of War

"The Mint" was written about his enlistment in the Royal Air Force. "Crusader Castles" was his college thesis. His translation of the Odyssey brought in some much needed income after the war, but Lawrence only translated from Greek and from French, so he never translated "The Art of War".