While completing his work on Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence entered the RAF as an aircraftman under the assumed name of J. H. Ross, and subsequently the Tank Corps as a private. (During this time, concerned for his finances, he undertook for Cape a translation of Adrien le Corbeau’s nouvelle Le Gigantesque – The Forest Giant – published in 1924.) He rejoined the RAF in 1925 – changing his name by deed poll to Shaw two years later. He set down his experiences as 352087 A/c Ross in The Mint. (His later Air Force number, 338171, occasioned the quip from Noël Coward [25 August 1930], “May I call you 338?”) In The Mint Lawrence adopted a much plainer, more …
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