The Life of My ChoiceWilfred Thesiger is the last of the great British eccentric explorers, a legendary figure, renowned for his travels through some of the most inaccessible places on earth. As a child in Abyssinia he watched the victorious armies of Ras Tafari returning from hand-to-hand battle, their prisoners in chains; at the age of twenty-three he made his first expedition into the country of the Danakil, a murderous race among whom a man's status in the tribe depended on the number of men he had killed and castrated. His widely acclaimed books, 'Arabian Sands' and 'The Marsh Arabs' tell of his two famous sojourns in the Empty Quarter and the Marshes of southern Iraq. But Thesiger's true character and motives have until now remained an enigma. In this, his autobiography, he highlights the people who most profoundly influenced him and the events which enabled him to lead the life of his choice. "One of the very few people who in our time could be put on the pedestal of the great explorers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." "A treasure galleon built to the same specifications as 'Arabian Sands' and 'The Marsh Arabs' ... it is the record of a man magnificently and unabashedly out of step with his times." "He is, unquestionably, one of the greatest travellers the British have ever produced, the last of our recognizable primitives. He also writes with much distinction and honesty." |
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... Eton ; he , however , sent his sons , other than my father , to Winchester . My father for some reason went to Cheltenham , where he was happy ; but he decided to send us to Eton . When my father died , his brother Percy generously ...
... Eton , while I was still a Lower boy , to box against the Eton Mission from Hackney Wick in the East End of London . I was giving tea to my opponent who , though the same weight , was probably two years older , when I was sent for by ...
... Eton is a luxurious school . When I was there it was one of the most spartan in the country . The Thames Valley is ... Eton life , like the tailcoats and top hats we wore . Archie McNeile , as he was known to the boys , was a wiry ...
Contents
List of Maps | 7 |
Introduction | 15 |
Arrival in Addis Ababa | 23 |
Copyright | |
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