Comments on: Lowell Thomas, T.E. Lawrence and the Creation of a Legend

By: Lawrence and His First Biographer | brittawrites

Lawrence and His First Biographer | brittawrites — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:58:13 +0000

[...] Garnett, David. The Essential T. E. Lawrence: A Biography of His Own Writing Hodson, Joel. "Lowell Thomas, T. E. Lawrence, and the Creation of a Legend," American History Magazine Lawrence, T. E. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Share this:EmailLike [...]

By: Barry J D Wilson

Barry J D Wilson — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:22:29 +0000

My only information, is what I have already given.
I am trying to tidy up my wife's Uncles family history as I have done with one of her other Uncles, who was sunk in the Med in June 1942 as a Warrent Officer stoker. but back to Mr Reginald Whitton from Gainsborough Lincolnshire England. all I know is that he joined up in 1931/2 and finished in 1937/8. He was a trained Photographer and before he died, he did tell me that he was the photographer who was flown by Lawrence while they Photographed the Sahara desert.
I am grateful that you for taking an interest , the only other Information that I have which may help is the following.
This was at the back of a photograph of Mr R. Whitton and his squad on their passing out Photoagraph.
No. * Squad B Flight, Struma Block R2,F depot Squadron R.A.F.
Uxbridge
Regards Mr Barry Wilson Lincoln England

By: Richard Moulton

Richard Moulton — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:39:54 +0000

Barry,
Jeremy Wilson and score of other Lawrence experts could answer your query better than I, but… I doubt that Lawrence had any input on a RAF mapping scheme that late (1931) in his servce with the RAF as Airman Shaw. I believe that he was stationed in India for most of his time. To have aided in this Mapping would have drawn attention to the fact of who he really was, when we sought the opposite. As I understand it he left service at the end of '34 and died in May

By: Barry J D Wilson

Barry J D Wilson — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 15:34:34 +0000

I cannot add to the above information, but I would be most interested in any comments via. Email, PLEASE

By: Barry J D Wilson

Barry J D Wilson — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 15:30:16 +0000

What was the truth about Lawrence Please.
My wife's Uncle Mr R Whitton was supposed to have flown with Lawrence, during the early part of the 1930's, their mission was to try to map the Sahara desert using Photography, for which Mr Whitton was a R.A.F trained Photographer.
Mr Whitton was in the R.A.F from about 1931 – 1937, when he left the R.A.F he eventually started up a Photography business in Edinburgh.
Do you think that this may well be true ??.

By: Richard Moulton

Richard Moulton — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:27:59 +0000

Hodson does an accurate job of letting us in on the first truly audio visually created super hero. We had heros of prose from Greeks, Romans, even our own Laongfellow who gave us that "Mid-night Ride."
But Thomas created something else, where the medium was at least in part the message. Journalistic field notes were used to support the films and still collected in the field. The visuals became the story and took on a life of their own. This is a decade before radio news and decades ahead of television. But it should give us pause to think about the power of the image. Especially as it is buoyed with music, a narrative and set design…
In examining the legacy of the Lawrence Legend one must look at the Map of todays middle east and try to see the influence that Lawrence had upon it. Surely this influence was bestowed by the media personia created by Lowell Thomas. For more information on this subject please visit http://www.cliohistory.org/thomas-lawrence/
which boasts Joel Hodson's input.