FACTS ABOUT LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

1. He was the illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Chapman. Chapman had an affair with the governess to his children and then left his wife for her.  They lived as man and wife under the name Lawrence.  They moved around a lot and all five sons were born in different parts of Great Britain.  T.E. was born in Wales.  His full name was Thomas Edward Lawrence, but he went by T.E.   He did not learn about his unusual family situation until after his father died, when T.E. was 34.
2. He was 5’5”. Peter O’Toole was 6’3”.
3. He was a strict vegetarian and abstained for alcohol and tobacco. He toughened himself by depriving himself of food and water for extended periods.
4. In 1909, as an archeology student at Oxford, he toured Syria and Palestine by himself, doing research on Crusader castles for his thesis. He walked 1,000 miles and was shot at and robbed and beaten badly.  He returned the next year after graduating as part of an archeological expedition sponsored by the British Museum.
5. He had no military training. At the time he was chosen to hook up with the Arab tribes, he had been doing a desk job for two years as an intelligence officer in Cairo.
6. He lost two younger brothers within months of each other on the Western Front in 1915.
7. He was not famous until correspondent Lowell Thomas went on a lecture tour in 1919. Thomas showed photos via a slide show and screened a movie called “Lawrence of Arabia”.  Thomas made Lawrence and international celebrity.
8. In the 1920’s he worked for Winston Churchill. They became lifelong friends. 
9. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force under the assumed name John Ross. A few months later, the press outed him and he was discharged.  He then enlisted in the Tank Corps under the name Thomas Shaw.  (He later transferred back to the RAF.)  The name was an homage to his friend George Bernard Shaw.  He published a translation of “The Odyssey” as Shaw.  The only time he returned to using Lawrence was when he published “Seven Pillars”. 
10. He owned seven different Brough Superior motorcycles. They were called “the Rolls Royce of motorcycles”.  On the fateful day, he was trying to avoid two boys on bikes, but he clipped one of theme and went out of control.  He suffered massive brain injuries, but did not die until six days later.  He was probably going around 100 MPH at the time of the accident.

https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-lawrence-of-arabia

https://www.pbs.org/lawrenceofarabia/players/lawrence3.html