Wilfred Thesiger

Sir Wilfred Thesiger was a British military officer, explorer and travel writer who died in 2003. He is best known for Arabian Sands, his account of crossing the Empty Quarter of Arabia on foot and by camel, and The Marsh Arabs, which draws on his time living in the marshes of Iraq. Both books grew out of first-hand time spent among the peoples of those regions, and he donated his collection of travel photographs to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.