GB Films
11th November 1917
Suicidal Mickey? Part Two
11th November 1917
11th November 1917
11th November 1917
I had to show you this remarkable photograph of one of Lawrence's trains as it looks today. When I find out who owns the copyright I'll be delighted to credit it. And ask them where it is exactly. And if they can take me there.
The basic sources for today's drama remain the same as yesterday's, with one remarkable addition.
The codebook in the IWM is a truly wonderful object if you like physical history as much as I do. It is in the Clauson papers, and I was guided there by Sheffy once again. Form an orderly queue, now.
The basic sources for today's drama remain the same as yesterday's, with one remarkable addition.
The codebook in the IWM is a truly wonderful object if you like physical history as much as I do. It is in the Clauson papers, and I was guided there by Sheffy once again. Form an orderly queue, now.
A few days after I wrote the above, I remembered this great email I got on the afternoon of the previous episode. I've blocked out her/his name, but this is the calibre of email you get on a show like this one.
-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 10 November 2017 16:54
To: jonathan.ruffle@gbfilms.com
Subject: Anachronism in the desert
Hello Jonathan Ruffle
I really enjoyed today’s episode of Tommies, in part because my father was an ambulance driver with Allenby’s army and left me his diaries and mementoes of Cairo life, including the visiting cards of several “ladies of the town” and a programme to a band concert at the Ezbekieh Gardens.
But I was surprised to hear at least two conversational references in the programme to “Lawrence of Arabia”. In November 1917!!! Really. No one knew TE Lawrence as that then, even if they had heard of him of the Arab street, which is extremely unlikely. Lowell Thomas’ lectures and show which created the Lawrence of Arabia myth didn’t begin in New York until 1919.
Likewise references of a place called “Jordan”, which didn’t exist then either. The area then called Transjordan was divided between the Ottoman vilayet of Syria and the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz, which is where Lawrence’s guerrilla activities took place. Jordan? Jordan?
Come on! You’d never get away with that on the Western Front.
Sent: 10 November 2017 16:54
To: jonathan.ruffle@gbfilms.com
Subject: Anachronism in the desert
Hello Jonathan Ruffle
I really enjoyed today’s episode of Tommies, in part because my father was an ambulance driver with Allenby’s army and left me his diaries and mementoes of Cairo life, including the visiting cards of several “ladies of the town” and a programme to a band concert at the Ezbekieh Gardens.
But I was surprised to hear at least two conversational references in the programme to “Lawrence of Arabia”. In November 1917!!! Really. No one knew TE Lawrence as that then, even if they had heard of him of the Arab street, which is extremely unlikely. Lowell Thomas’ lectures and show which created the Lawrence of Arabia myth didn’t begin in New York until 1919.
Likewise references of a place called “Jordan”, which didn’t exist then either. The area then called Transjordan was divided between the Ottoman vilayet of Syria and the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz, which is where Lawrence’s guerrilla activities took place. Jordan? Jordan?
Come on! You’d never get away with that on the Western Front.
All the best
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Ruffle [mailto:jonathan.ruffle@gbfilms.com]
Sent: 10 November 2017 17:25
Sent: 10 November 2017 17:25
To: 'xxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: Anachronism in the desert
Dear xxxxxxxxxxx
Those diaries and mementoes sound marvellous - my grandfather fought at Third Gaza and I have his photo album.
No-one hates an anachronism as much as I do, but I'm the first to admit they do slip past me sometimes.
I think the reference to Jordan was made by the Commentator, as in "the muddy desert near Minifir, east of the Jordan". I think I'm pretty happy with that, because she's referring to the river. Also, the Commentator is not a historical character - she often tells us latter-day information: where shells wind up fifty years later, that sort of thing.
But I only have the script to hand, not a copy of the final broadcast version - possibly we used the word Jordan in a different sense when we were recording, if so, apologies. I hate it went I blunder.
I think I took an early decision that our Egyptian characters were going to be unusually well informed about personalities within the Arab Bureau. I don't want to give too much away but the police chief Ibrahim is more often there than the listener to episode 1 might suppose, and there's more two-way of information back and forth to the seditionaries than is first apparent.
So I'm happy that this group might know of Lawrence. As you'll also hear tomorrow they have a mocking take on the British and I thought they might have conjured Lawrence "of Arabia" for themselves - after all, nicknames are not the gift of just one person, even if it was Lowell Thomas or similar.
But this is just my supposition. I haven't got a single piece of evidence to suggest that anyone called Lawrence anything at all before the post-war period, and certainly not this gang of revolutionaries.
I think I took an early decision that our Egyptian characters were going to be unusually well informed about personalities within the Arab Bureau. I don't want to give too much away but the police chief Ibrahim is more often there than the listener to episode 1 might suppose, and there's more two-way of information back and forth to the seditionaries than is first apparent.
So I'm happy that this group might know of Lawrence. As you'll also hear tomorrow they have a mocking take on the British and I thought they might have conjured Lawrence "of Arabia" for themselves - after all, nicknames are not the gift of just one person, even if it was Lowell Thomas or similar.
But this is just my supposition. I haven't got a single piece of evidence to suggest that anyone called Lawrence anything at all before the post-war period, and certainly not this gang of revolutionaries.
So I'm sorry it grated on you. For what it is worth, that at least was my thinking.
Thanks so much for getting in touch, it is most appreciated.
With all good wishes
Jonathan
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