It was a tragedy which stunned the world.
In 1935 Lawrence of Arabia, the World War I legend who cheated death numerous times on the battlefields of the Middle East, was killed in a motorbike accident on a quiet Dorset country lane.
The war hero, real name Thomas Eduard Lawrence, had been riding his Brough Superior DD100 when he swerved to avoid two boys on their bikes, lost control and was thrown over the handlebars.
An inquest heard that it has been raining heavily on the day of the accident on May 19, and that a dip in the road obscured the view on the two boys until it was too late.
He died six days later from head injuries, aged 46.
Amid an outpouring of grief the New York Times called his passing a “tragic waste”, while Winston Churchill declared “In Lawrence we have lost one of the greatest beings of our time”.
The front page of British tabloid the Daily Sketch read: “Lawrence the Soldier Dies to Live Forever”.
