Baby Ace: A road less travelled: Intrepid explorer Lawrence of Arabia was twice offered a job at the Bank of England

Friday, March 14, 2014

A road less travelled: Intrepid explorer Lawrence of Arabia was twice offered a job at the Bank of England

By

Daily Mail Reporter

History remembers him for uniting the Arabian tribes and turning the tide in the Middle Eastern campaigns of the First World War.

But newly unearthed papers reveal that Lawrence of Arabia – T E Lawrence – was twice offered a job at the Bank of England.

In 1928 he declined the a job as night-watchman, offered so he could write out of the ‘glare of publicity’.

Intrepid explorer: Papers reveal that Lawrence of Arabia -T E Lawrence – was twice offered a job at the Bank of England

Seven years later Governor Montagu Norman asked Lawrence (who was played by Peter O’Toole, pictured, in the Oscar-winning 1962 film) to become the Bank’s secretary.

Lawrence again declined, and died later that year of injuries he received after crashing his motorbike.

Now a camel pack used for carrying gold across the desert, thought to have been used by Lawrence, is part of a display of items found in the Bank’s vaults.