Summary
Gertrude Bell was a British woman who arguably founded the modern state of Iraq. Explorer, mountaineer and archaeologist, this extraordinarily talented woman travelled widely across Arabia in the years preceding the first world war. When war came, her knowledge of the tribes, geography and politics of the area made her a vital asset to British intelligence. In the wake of British victory in Mesopotamia, she became a key figure in the the post-war administration of the turbulent area, as the British grappled with how best to reduce their military commitment while still retaining influence - a situation that was to find strong echoes in post-war Iraq 90 years later. A woman who rose to the top in a man's world, her personal life was beset with ill-starred romance and tragedy.
Physicist Jim al-Khalili was born in Iraq at a time when Gertrude Bell was still revered as someone who fought for Iraqi self-determination. With the help of Bell's biographer, Janet Wallach, he explores her remarkable life. Matthew Parris chairs.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this great lives podcast from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:41.0 | For more information and details of other podcasts just visit BBC.co. |
| 0:45.2 | UK slash radio for. The subject of this week's program would have hated it. |
| 0:51.0 | Throughout her life she shunned publicity, |
| 0:54.0 | she never gave interviews, and there are no recordings of her. |
| 0:56.8 | She died in 1926 at the age of 57. |
| 1:00.4 | If she'd lived to an old age, |
| 1:02.0 | she might have been on woman's hour, but it's unlikely. |
| 1:05.0 | Please, please don't supply information about me, or photographs of me to newspaper correspondence, |
| 1:11.0 | she wrote to her family. |
| 1:12.0 | I always throw all letters asking for an interview or |
| 1:15.0 | a photograph straight into the waste paper basket, and I beg you to do the same on my behalf. |
| 1:21.2 | She is Gertrude Bell, arguably the founder of modern Iraq. |
| 1:25.0 | My guest who's chosen her is an Iraqi-born scientist Jim Al-Kalee, |
| 1:30.0 | who's now professor of physics at the University of Surrey |
| 1:33.0 | and also a regular TV science presenter |
... |
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