enhanced this narrative by claiming that Lawrence received correspondence at the house but that its him, and know nothing of his dwellers ‘seldom see movements’. Arch-Spy of the The collapse of the secret agent narrative ‘The World’: In 1922, the media had invested mundane activities with shadowy consequences, Lawrence’s recalling fantasies from popular literary fiction. In 1929, the even labelled Daily News Lawrence an Sherlock this comparison relating not only to both ‘Eastern Holmes’, men’s purported talent for disguising themselves and taste for adventure, but also to the way their public images occupied a grey area that blurred fact and fiction. Importantly though, the presentation of Lawrence as a secret agent had already started to diminish by 1929. Following his original exposure in 1922, Lawrence was expelled from the RAF. Having spent a brief spell in the Tank Corps, only to again be exposed by the in 1924, he was Daily Express permitted to re-enter the Air Force at the end of 1926 under a new name, Aircraftman T. E. Shaw, which he adopted by deed poll. He requested a post far from the prying eyes of British journalists, and was stationed as an air mechanic at an RAF depot on the North-West Frontier of India. In search of a story, the British press renewed their interest in him at the start of 1928. By the end of the year, their stories had become wholly contrived. The Evening News claimed that Lawrence was on a in Amritsar disguised as a Mohammedan ‘secret mission’ Saint, using his to the whilst undermining Bolshevist ‘mystical powers’ ‘ward off Evil Eye’ activities. The most outlandish report came from the notoriously sensationalist Empire News which created a nineteenth-century narrative when it asserted that Lawrence ‘Great Game’ was embroiled in a duel to the with the spy and international confidence man, ‘secret death’ Trebitsch Lincoln, in order to prevent a war breaking out between Britain and Russia. Satia has argued that these reports presented the most overtly imperialist rendering of Lawrence from the interwar years. While this was certainly the case, this persona was not representative of his broader media image. By the later 1920s, the had started press’s interest to shift away from the earlier Lawrence fantasy that was reproduced in different guises to
enhanced this narrative by claiming that Lawrence received correspondence at the house but that its dwellers ‘seldom see him, and know nothing of his movements’. ‘The Arch-Spy of the World’: The collapse of the secret agent narrative In 1922, the media had invested Lawrence’s mundane activities with shadowy consequences, recalling fantasies from popular literary fiction. In 1929, the Daily News even labelled Lawrence an ‘Eastern Sherlock Holmes’, this comparison relating not only to both men’s purported talent for disguising themselves and taste for adventure, but also to the way their public images occupied a grey area that blurred fact and fiction. Importantly though, the presentation of Lawrence as a secret agent had already started to diminish by 1929. Following his original exposure in 1922, Lawrence was expelled from the RAF. Having spent a brief spell in the Tank Corps, only to again be exposed by the Daily Express in 1924, he was permitted to re-enter the Air Force at the end of 1926 under a new name, Aircraftman T. E. Shaw, which he adopted by deed poll. He requested a post far from the prying eyes of British journalists, and was stationed as an air mechanic at an RAF depot on the North-West Frontier of India. In search of a story, the British press renewed their interest in him at the start of 1928. By the end of the year, their stories had become wholly contrived. The Evening News claimed that Lawrence was on a ‘secret mission’ in Amritsar disguised as a Mohammedan Saint, using his ‘mystical powers’ to ‘ward off the Evil Eye’ whilst undermining Bolshevist activities. The most outlandish report came from the notoriously sensationalist Empire News which created a nineteenth-century ‘Great Game’ narrative when it asserted that Lawrence was embroiled in a ‘secret duel to the death’ with the spy and international confidence man, Trebitsch Lincoln, in order to prevent a war breaking out between Britain and Russia. Satia has argued that these reports presented the most overtly imperialist rendering of Lawrence from the interwar years. While this was certainly the case, this persona was not representative of his broader media image. By the later 1920s, the press’s interest had started to shift away from the earlier Lawrence fantasy that was reproduced in different guises to