My conversations with Wilfred Thesiger

When Wilfred Thesiger arrived in the port of Al Mukalla after his foot crossing of the Empty Quarter desert with the Bedu in 1948, he wore only Arab clothes. My father lent him a pair of trousers and a razor so he could get cleaned up before going to dinner. A friend of mine this week just read Thesiger’s superb Arabian Sands and reminded me that the author claimed his razor and European clothes had been sent from Salala, with no mention of Dad’s kindness. Also this week in London, I met an old Yemeni friend whose family comes from the edge of the Empty Quarter and, while discussing the politics of our troubled nations, he remembered the knowledge my father and his fellow political officer Peter Davey had of the Arabic language down to the local dialect, displayed in their various letters. It does not matter that Thesiger spoke little Arabic.