TE Lawrence's autobiographical masterpiece, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, remains one of the most influential accounts of irregular warfare, featuring on the reading lists of military academies and professional military education institutions around the world. Yet, for me, the book holds little attraction. It is the enigmatic, intriguing and self-effacing personality of its author that draws me to this extraordinary figure of history. The celebrated film Lawrence of Arabia, together with my childhood memories of Kala Chapra in Karachi, offers a more compelling reason to revisit his story. Sometimes obscurity offers refuge to greatness. Few figures illustrate this paradox better than Lawrence of Arabia.

As a young child, I remember travelling towards Karachi airport and seeing an enormous airship hangar known as Kala Chapra. The hangar was eventually dismantled in the 1960s, but it survives in the recollections of those who witnessed its imposing presence. What I did not know as a child was that Karachi had another, rather extraordinary association with Lawrence of Arabia. The very city whose skies and landmarks formed part of my childhood had once been home to a man who, having become a legend, was desperately trying to escape his own fame.

Colonel TE Lawrence........

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