Wilfred Thesiger was a famous travel writer of the 20th century. He was born on 3rd June, 1910 in Addis Ababa. He breathed his last on 24th August, 2003. Wilfred's father was a British diplomat. Besides being a British explorer, Thesiger is also considered to be one of the famous people of Addis Ababa.
Wilfred's Early Life
Thesiger attended Eton College, Windsor. From Magdalen College, Oxford, he passed out securing a third class degree in history. In 1933, Thesiger went on an expedition to Awash River. The expedition was partly sponsored by Royal Geographical Society- IBG.
Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger was the first European to visit Lake Abbe and Aussa Sultanante. Apart from this, he also participated in many expeditions. Wilfred Patrick Thesiger also visited Iraq, French West Africa, Kenya, Pakistan and Kurdistan during his travel
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expeditions. After returning to England in 1990s, he was knighted in 1995.The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford houses travel photographs of Thesiger. These photographs were taken during Thesiger's expedition. He donated about 25,000 travel photographs to the museum for display.
Thesiger also served the Sudan Political Service. During the Second World War and east African Campaign, Thesiger fought in Ethiopia with the Gideon Force. In North Africa, Thesiger served the Log Range Desert Group. For capturing Agibar and a garrison of 2500 Italian troops, Thesiger was awarded the DSO.
Books written by Thesiger
Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger also wrote some books. Some of his works are Arabian Sands (1959), The Marsh Arabs (1964) and A Red Shaken By The Wind- a Journey Through the Unexplored Marshlands of Iraq (1959).
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