Ivor Catt,

121 Westfields,

St. Albans AL3 4JR

28aug97

Peter C Metcalfe, T E Lawrence Society,

Ralph Stevens

Dear Peter,

I could imagine turning out vol. 1 of Syd's autobiog., pp1-100, quite soon, so this can be mentioned in a footnote to your article on Syd on Lawrence. It would be 100pp., price £6.80, from me (Westfields press). The second and last vol. 2, after Lawrence's death, could come later. Of course, vol 2 would have the really powerful writing, about Syd in Japan; much better material than vol. 1, which contains Lawrence.

I have run into a 'conflict of interest'. When I did some cleaning up of some of Syd's style, your immediate reaction was that this detracted from authenticity. This leads me to think that there have to be two versions. The present version that I am typing up is virtually complete and authentic, and you and the Lawrence Soc. will have it on disc. However, a book for publication should have the dreary (?=shallow?) stuff edited out, ideally cutting the whole lot down to fit into one of my standard 100pp books. However, since so much has been said about fraudulence over Lawrence, the full Syd autobiog. has to be available in some form. (The full material is the roughage which supports the few pages on Lawrence. Nobody would invent material on this scale, or even interpolate false material on Lawrence into such a massive background.) This could always be achieved by offering it on disc., as backing to the reduced 100pp book published by me. This para. contradicts the previous para.

As to authenticity, I am puzzled by the business of an aborted trip to Germany from Andover in 1924, see p70 of Syd's original manuscript. I know he did talk about this event, but I am surprised that he has it down as early as 1924. Syd used to talk about the aborted chance to stop the rise of Hitler's Germany very early on, in a minor operation. A few British troops would enter Germany and tell the Germans to behave themselves. However, how could that be done before Hitler was in power? If he has this wrong, then we have to question his accuracy as to dates in general. My history has Hitler marching into the Ruhr, surely in the 1930's. I would have thought 1924 was Weimar Republic, who did not assert themselves. I feel that Hitler came to power in only something like 1932. This leads to the more general point, that the Syd autobiog is only one Syd source. There is also the recollection by people he talked to, including me.

As you might imagine I am irritated by Syd's pride in being a big frog in a tiny puddle. Had he gone into Marconi, he would have found his level, and not had to play at being better than his masters all the time; and yet he very much respected some of his masters. There is a strange parallel with Lawrence here. Also, the weird stuff I have just been typing, that his rich friends/relatives paid for him to dress up expensively, to be compared with Lawrence being given a powerful motor bike by rich friends. Again, Syd talks, his p76, about his double life, out with the nobs smartly dressed, first class hotels, compared with his menial life in the barrack, travelling as cargo, not human, in troopships. I suppose, when it comes to my bringing out a book, I am torn between portraying the whole Syd., with his pettiness, and leaving out the petty, to create the myth of a giant. In the full text, you see the chips on his shoulder slipping in and out of view. I certainly did not enjoy the recurrent theme, that he was in the desert, or in the football team, with someone who later became Air Marshall. The worst is the magnificently dressed viceroy appearing in Aden. I don't believe Syd's total admiration of this apparition is feigned.

(I must mention a present friend of mine, Ernest Morton. He name dropped so much that I finally announced to his wife Beth, and to him, that I was sure he had never met anyone below the rank of colonel. I then went on with "Lloyd George knew my father." Ernest's reply was; "Now you mention it, ...." and he proceeded to tell me about his personal links with Lloyd George!)

My uncle Steve lent me his 1979 Dover edn. of Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, with the short Lawrence intro. This strenghtens my feeling, which Lawrence more or less asserted, of Lawrence feeling like the sorcerer's apprentice, unable to keep up with all that he had set in motion vis à vis his career and personality. As he wrote Seven Pillars, he lay in the shadow of Doughty, who was then an accredited poet - see an encyclopaedia. It is sad that he subtitles Seven Pillars A Triumph, so confronting Doughty head on by indicating Homer etc. It leads me to wonder much more what the first few editions of Seven Pillars looked like. Have you seen them? It is also strange that Seven Pillars is now famous worldwide, and Doughty is not. Lawrence did not have to worry. However, perhaps reading Doughty, and having the added advantage of taking part in the Arab Revolt, which Doughty lacked, he knew he had the makings of one of the greatest writings of all time, putting him with Shakespeare, in which he failed. He himself says The Mint, which lacked the potential of Seven...., being painted on such a small canvas, is a better book artistically. In this context, it is interesting to read his dismissive attitude artistically to one but not both of the Greek texts he was most involved with.

Yours sincerely,

Ivor Catt