As a boy, Michael Englebach was taken by his grandfather to watch cricket at the Oval, the famous London test match ground.
Concerned that the hard wooden seats would be uncomfortable for a man of such advanced years, young Michael suggested fetching a cushion to sit on.
The offer was politely declined, for his grandfather was no stranger to discomfort. Mounted on a camel, he had previously explored the deserts of Saudi Arabia, crossing the vast wilderness known as Rub’ al Khali, or the Empty Quarter.
To his family, he was St John ― pronounced Sinjin ― while to others he was Harry, Jack, or even Abdullah, after his conversion to Islam.
The multitude of names point to the many facets of an extraordinary life, but all attach to the family name of Philby.
By the time Michael was born, Philby had long achieved fame for his 1917 expedition across 1,300km of desert from Al Uqair, on the Arabian Gulf, to Jeddah on the west coast and the heart of the kingdom.
In the process, he became a close friend and adviser to the Ruler of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud, spending much of his life there, initially as a British military officer, and eventually becoming a Muslim.
A passionate Arabist, he served in the Middle East as a civil servant and political agent, but became increasingly disillusioned with British policy in the region and fell out with the London establishment in spectacular fashion over its treatment of the Arabs, gaining a reputation as a troublemaker and dangerous radical.
Foremost an explorer, who was meticulous in his scientific observations, his greatest achievement is generally considered to be the crossing of the Empty Quarter, a test many did not expect him to survive, and which earned further plaudits from the Royal Geographical Society, which had already awarded him its Founders Medal.
All of which would have meant very little to a child. “To me, he was just grandpa,” Englebach says. “He was a very dignified figure. As a small boy looking at this grandfatherly figure, he was in every essence, the grandfather. He was bearded, he looked very distinguished and he behaved in very dignified manner.
“And he took an interest in what we were doing as grandchildren. I have very fond memories of my time with him.”
Englebach’s mother, Helena, was one of Philby’s three daughters by his wife Dora Johnston. His father, serving in the Royal Air Force, died in an air accident in February 1955, when Englebach was just six.
Englebach would visit his grandparents at their London flat at Drayton Gardens in fashionable Chelsea, where Philby was a visitor from Saudi Arabia. There was a study, filled with intriguing artefacts from his grandfather’s travels, but also the scorecards from every county and test match he had ever watched.
His grandfather, Englebach says, was a meticulous chronicler, whether of desert wildlife or the fall of wickets at a cricket match.
“He came to our school sports day when I was 10 or 11 years old, and was noting down the results of the races. At one point he said to me 'Mike, who is that boy who just won that hundred-yard race’. And he wrote down the name.
“This is what he was like. He was extraordinarily meticulous and ever curious. You could see in the way he asked questions that he wanted to know what you were up to.”
There were lunches in London, day trips from boarding school and a memorable two-week family holiday at the Welsh seaside in 1958 ― just two years before Philby’s death, in Beirut, at the age of 75.
What was not generally known at the time, and for many years after, was that Philby had a second family in Saudi Arabia. He had married Rozy, a Saudi woman some time around 1945. Some sources give her family name as Al Abdul Aziz, suggesting she was a close relative or even a daughter of Ibn Saud and much younger than Philby, possibly in her teens.
There is evidence that Philby’s son Kim, the British MI5 agent who would eventually be unmasked as a spy for the Soviet Union, knew of the marriage and the children that followed.
Whether Philby’s English wife ― there was no divorce ― was aware, may never be known. She died in 1957, and Englebach says he is not aware of the matter ever being raised.
If this seems strange to us, it should be remembered that this was a time when the demands of Empire and foreign service often meant long periods of separation for families. Absentee fathers were not usual.
It would be wrong, also, to think of his grandmother as a stay-at-home wife, Englebach says. In the 1920s she had accompanied her husband on his travels through Arabia, including Yemen, and argued furiously with another Arabist, the celebrated writer and explorer, Gertrude Bell, over Britain’s decision to anoint King Faisal as ruler of Iraq.
Rozy Philby, as she was known, had five children, although two died in infancy, a tragedy all too common in the region at that time. Three sons survived and thrived. One, Khalid Phiby, would become the UN special representative.
His grandson says he knew very little about this other, Saudi, side of the family. “My mother told me about them when I was in my late teens. She didn't have any contact, she simply said she'd heard that they were very intelligent, and that was all. And then we moved on. I wasn't really taking a huge interest.
“When I heard about him being in the Empty Quarter, I was worried about my grandpa. I thought, you know, he’s a bit old.”
It was a proposal to recreate his 1917 trek that changed everything. The Heart of Arabia Expedition, which set off this month, honours Philby’s achievement and is led by British explorer Mark Evans. The team includes Reem Philby, granddaughter of Rozy.
Englebach made contact with Reem ― the first between the two branches of the family in 60 years ― via a Zoom call. They finally met in September at the launch of the Heart of Arabia expedition in London.
“It was absolutely charming and very heartwarming,” he says. “I gather they're a very close family, and I think they're delighted to have an extended English family as well.
“Straight away I felt that there were people here who were close to me. It was a very warm meeting when we met. I'm pretty family minded, so anyone who's family to me is someone special. And so they are as well.”
There will be another meeting in January, when Englebach travels to Riyadh for the start of the second leg of Heart of Arabia to the Red Sea coast at Jeddah ― a reunion of his British and Saudi Arabian families will honour the spirit of Philby as much as any desert trek.
ILT20%20UAE%20stars
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RESULTS
Dubai Kahayla Classic – Group 1 (PA) $750,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
Winner: Deryan, Ioritz Mendizabal (jockey), Didier Guillemin (trainer).
Godolphin Mile – Group 2 (TB) $750,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
Dubai Gold Cup – Group 2 (TB) $750,000 (Turf) 3,200m
Winner: Subjectivist, Joe Fanning, Mark Johnston
Al Quoz Sprint – Group 1 (TB) $1million (T) 1,200m
Winner: Extravagant Kid, Ryan Moore, Brendan Walsh
UAE Derby – Group 2 (TB) $750,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Rebel’s Romance, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
Dubai Golden Shaheen – Group 1 (TB) $1.5million (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zenden, Antonio Fresu, Carlos David
Dubai Turf – Group 1 (TB) $4million (T) 1,800m
Winner: Lord North, Frankie Dettori, John Gosden
Dubai Sheema Classic – Group 1 (TB) $5million (T) 2,410m
Winner: Mishriff, John Egan, John Gosden
The lowdown
Bohemian Rhapsody
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee
Rating: 3/5
What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Getting%20there%20and%20where%20to%20stay
%3Cp%3EFly%20with%20Etihad%20Airways%20from%20Abu%20Dhabi%20to%20New%20York%E2%80%99s%20JFK.%20There's%2011%20flights%20a%20week%20and%20economy%20fares%20start%20at%20around%20Dh5%2C000.%3Cbr%3EStay%20at%20The%20Mark%20Hotel%20on%20the%20city%E2%80%99s%20Upper%20East%20Side.%20Overnight%20stays%20start%20from%20%241395%20per%20night.%3Cbr%3EVisit%20NYC%20Go%2C%20the%20official%20destination%20resource%20for%20New%20York%20City%20for%20all%20the%20latest%20events%2C%20activites%20and%20openings.%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 480hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 570Nm from 2,300-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 10.4L/100km
Price: from Dh547,600
On sale: now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Jersey 147 (20 overs)
UAE 112 (19.2 overs)
Jersey win by 35 runs
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
RESULTS
5pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Purebred Arabian Cup Conditions (PA) Dh 200,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: Hameem, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Cup Conditions (PA) Dh 200,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Winked, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Cup Listed (TB) Dh 380,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Boerhan, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
6.30pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Group 3 (PA) Dh 500,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Day Jewel Crown Group 1 (PA) Dh 5,000,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Messi, Pat Dobbs, Timo Keersmaekers
7.30pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Racing Festival Handicap (PA) Dh 150,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Harrab, Ryan Curatolo, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Alareeq, Connor Beasley, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
MANDOOB
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ENGLAND%20SQUAD
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 55')
Man of the Match Allan (Everton)
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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