Thesiger, Prince of Empty Quarter

It was Thesiger who explored and loved the Empty Quarter. A friend of mine over here in Doha, originally from Mosul, told me that he had been to the Empty Quarter and camped there with friends for a couple of days. He said it was the best time of his life to live those 50 hours in the Empty Quarter. The man has seen cities and places from Tokyo to San Francisco these thirty years of residence in Doha.Thesiger was the last of the Empty Quarter explorers. He was sent there by the FAO to identify locust breeding grounds. His book "Arabian Sands", a title taken from a poem by Wordsworth, as I recall, was one of the first books that I bought from "Mackenzie", Baghdad's famous bookshop. I especially liked his warm feelings for his two Arab guides, Bin Kabina and Bin Ghabaisha. He crossed the Empty Quarter in the early 1950's

One may or may not recall whether Thesiger's "Arabian Sands" is from Wordsworth, but I do recall a book titled, "Forbidden Sands" by Richard Trench. In the evening of 5th November (Guy Fawkes Day) l979, I was down in London to see Bernard Shaw's "You Never Can Tell" at the Lyric-Hammersmith. I had bought the ticket and was entering to take my seat when the usherrette came to me trying to help me find my seat. "There is still half an hour for the show to start," she said, "you can have a drink in the theatre bar in the meantime." "Alright," I retorted only if you would share a drink with me." "O, no, I'm on duty," she explained. "After the show then," I said. And we agreed. I stayed with her and she was every now and then answering queries of audience members about their seats. We talked a lot and my conversation was highly allusive and literary especially after she told me that in the daytime hours she worked in the BBC-TV. The bell rang indicating beginning of the show, and she took me to my seat saying to me, "I'll see you after the show." The show was over after 11:00 and we went together for a drink but the bar was closed. She suggested we go to her flat for she kept whiskythere. We went. That was the seed of a friendship which culminated in my proposing to her. Putting her head on my shoulder she said, "O, no, I'll tire you with what with my drinking and smoking." She would consume half a bottle of whisky every day during office hours at the BBC. One day when she was feeling out of her element she told me she needed hasheesh to smoke. "What do you say?" she asked me and I replied, "I'll go with you to get it, I'll pay it for and I'll sit with you when you smoke it but I will not smoke it." She picked a book from the table and gave it to me. The book's front cover read, "Forbidden Sands" by Richard Trench. She then dialed a number and while waiting to start talking, she told me she was calling Richard Trench the author of that book to provide her with hasheesh. The book was about the author's travels in sahara in North Africa