By Georgina Howell, abridged by Jill Waters
She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes).
She travelled the globe several times, but her passion was the desert, where she travelled with only her guns and her servants. Her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the Cairo Intelligence Office of the British government during World War I. She advised the Viceroy of India; then, as an army major, she travelled to the front lines in Mesopotamia. There, she supported the creation of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state.
Read by Sylvestra le Touzel and Deborah Findlay (the letters)
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
1 File 62MB. Length 68 minutes. Bitrate 128kbps
Replies
Thanks! Who knew???
Thanks for sharing. Saw a documentary about Gertrude Bell a while back. Also heard a movie was made recently.
Thank you!