Only after treading in TE Lawrence's footsteps did I realise his true greatness

Five decades after Col TE Lawrence assisted what historians described as the Arab revolt in the First World War, young British officer Ranulph Fiennes was posted to the region. After a long career as a distinguished explorer, he writes here about how he drew on the Lawrence of Arabia legend in one of his toughest challenges.

In the summer of 1967, I was facing a personal crisis. Five years previously, I had joined the Royal Scots Greys as a tank troop leader. It was the height of the Cold War, and everyone seemed on red alert. But instead of being thrown into battle, I spent most of my time in the Prussian plain of Westphalia.

We barely saw any Marxists, let alone fired a weapon in anger. I was bored and, at 23, wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life.

Then, out of nowhere, came a letter from a major in my regiment who had spent 12 months on a posting to the Omani Army. It told of desert patrols in unexplored regions, terrorist arms caches buried in the sand, and fights with Marxist rebels alongside Arab tribes. More officers were needed, he said. Why didn’t I apply?

His life sounded colourful, a far cry from the mud and greasy tank engines of which I was heartily sick. All I knew about Oman was that it was somewhere in Arabia. But that one thought conjured up an exciting image: the legendary TE Lawrence thrillingly leading the Arab tribes on his camel, white robes flowing, roaring them into action against the Turks.

In fact, the image in my head was that of actor Peter O'Toole, who had so brilliantly played Lawrence in the movie of his life released five years earlier. Like many others, I loved the movie and revelled in Lawrence's adventures in the desert.

Here was an opportunity for me to also fight side by side with Arabs in a far-flung country, and see some action against the Marxists, no less. Suddenly, my blood was pumping. Without further thought, I filled in the application form. To my surprise, the colonel eagerly signed it, which I found slightly disconcerting.

Soon after, I joined eight officers from various regiments at an Army school in Beaconsfield to learn Arabic, of which I didn’t speak a word, and understand what we would face in Oman, of which I knew little.

Unsurprisingly, I failed the passing-out exam as convincingly as the others passed. No one seemed to mind. I was going to Oman come what may. Again, this made me wonder what I was letting myself in for. I would soon find it was beyond anything I could have comprehended.

Like TE Lawrence, I led an Arab platoon in a fight for their country. Also like Lawrence, it was an experience that would take me to the edge.

Before my adventures in Oman, I already counted him one of my heroes. Yet it was only after treading in his footsteps that I realised the man’s true greatness.

His example often inspired me to victory in life-or-death situations, and I found myself in awe at some of his decisions. I could also sympathise when he fell short, up against impossible military and political odds, as well as confronting personal scars.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve realised just what a debt I owe to Lawrence. While there are obvious parallels between us, he is a man without equal. His adventures were enough to stir the blood, but the complexity of his character also held me in his grip.

There have been few like him, before or since.

This is an edited extract from 'Lawrence of Arabia: A Biography', by Ranulph Fiennes (Michael Joseph, £25), which is available now.

Lawrence: Wartime hero

Lawrence, a Welsh-born adventurer and intelligence officer, has come to be regarded as a model Briton for having emerged from the First World War as a rare, true hero.

Before 1914, he worked as an archaeologist and photographer in the Middle East, becoming familiar and strongly identifying with the region, its language and people. He subsequently fought alongside guerrilla forces in the Arab Revolt – often adopting traditional dress – against the Ottoman Empire, proving instrumental in the capture of Aqaba and involved in the fall of Damascus. It was of great regret to him in later life that he was unable to set the Arabs free as had been his fervent wish.

After so many years of fighting in the desert, there are those who question if his death at the age of 46 on a country road in Dorset in 1935 was a simple motorcycle accident or whether he was murdered by unseen forces.

Less controversial is history’s regard for Lawrence of Arabia as one of the greatest soldierly minds of all time, a leader who created a hybrid warfare with modern weaponry openly deployed alongside irregular forces.

Fiennes: Adventurer supreme

Lawrence’s strategy in the Hejaz still inspires military opponents and guerrilla rebels throughout the world, including the active service of Lt Fiennes in the 1960s on secondment from the Royal Scots Greys with the army of the Sultan of Oman during the Dhofar Rebellion for which he received the country’s bravery medal. His tactics are often recognised in the Special Air Service, with which Fiennes also served.

As an adventurer, Fiennes's record-breaking expeditions over the years included travels by riverboat, hovercraft, man-haul sledge, skidoo, Land Rover and skis, he is still the only person awarded the Polar Medal for the Arctic and Antarctic, and climbed to the summit of Everest at the age of 65. Unsurprisingly, he was named by the Guinness Book of Records as the World’s Greatest Living Explorer.

With the benefit of his own experiences, Fiennes felt able to offer a unique perspective on the fascinating life of, in his words, a young British officer who “set the desert on fire and emblazoned his name in the pages of history’’.