The Oxford archaeologist turned intelligence officer who rode with the Arab revolt, blew up the Hijaz railway, and came home to find the promises he had carried already broken, and then wrote the legend himself in Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
The fork
1916. Sent from Cairo to assess Sharif Hussein's revolt, he attaches himself to Faisal and becomes its British liaison. Taking the port of Aqaba from the landward side in July 1917 makes his name.
What they wanted
He hopes the Arabs win their freedom and Britain keeps its word. He also serves Britain's interests and wants France kept out. He knows about Sykes–Picot and rides on anyway.
What it cost
His part in the double game, and a myth, much of it his own, that made a small irregular war look like the centre of the Middle East. He hides in the ranks under other names and dies after a motorcycle crash in Dorset in 1935.
The fight
Hero, fraud, or a man broken by being both? Scott Anderson sets him among the other spies and schemers; Arab histories of the revolt put Faisal at the centre.