No, I'm not - although I do admit that life was a lot simpler there: work, eat, sleep - but it's always good to learn more about a place which has had such a great impact on my life.
Nicole Kidman was just fifteen years old when I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, but here she plays Gertrude Bell CBE, rightly known as 'The Queen of the Desert' and as a woman far ahead of her time.
She explored, mapped, and excavated the Arab world throughout the early twentieth century. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire.
Crack a PEPSI, Des, and watch the movie - it and Nicole Kidman don't do the real Gertrude Bell justice; then read the book online at archive.org.
