Gertrude bell

The life of Gertrude Bell, who spied for Britain during the First World War and helped establish modern Iraq, will be revealed in a new documentary released this week.

British-born Gertrude Bell, also referred to as the female Lawrence of Arabia, was an adventurer, spy, archaeologist and powerful political force who travelled into the uncharted Arabian desert and was recruited by British Military Intelligence to help reshape the Middle East after World War I. She drew the borders of Iraq, helped install its first

Nancy Pearl recommends Georgina Howell's riveting biography of Gertrude Bell to biography fans, history buffs, or any reader with an interest in the deep background of events playing out in the Middle East today.

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How someone died is not always relevant to how they lived; but in the case of Gertrude Bell, I believe that the circumstances of her death tell us a great deal about how she felt about her own life - which in turn casts light on a whole host of historical circumstances of that era, not least the imp

This piece was published on 21 February, 2014.

T.E. Lawrence attended the Cairo Conference where Prince Feisal would become king of a new country called Iraq and Prince Abdullah would rule Transjordan.

Step back in time with the most dynamic traveller of her era-Gertrude Bell.