SOPHIE IBBOTSON is an entrepreneur and
international business consultant. She is
the founder of Maximum Exposure UK and
Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel.
She is the author of five Bradt Travel Guides,
including Kashmir, Uzbekistan and Sudan.the duration of the war. Stark was,
right until her death at the age of 100,
not only a passionate nomad, but a
bold and influential one, too. ag“There can be no happiness if the things
we believe in are different from the
things we do.”away as the US, the popular press
revered her quite rightly, as “the
female Lawrence of Arabia”.
In fact, Stark was more than a
female T.E. Lawrence. Her areas of
interest – from the Mediterranean
to Afghanistan and everywhere in
between were far wider, plus she
wrote prolifically. The relationships
she established were more enduring
and while Lawrence’s advice on
how to manage the Middle East was
respectfully ignored, Stark’s initiatives
became a key part of Allied policy forthey espoused the values of freedom
and secular democracy at tea parties,
social gatherings, discussion groups,
public lectures and through the radio.
Very much a woman of the people,
Stark had the ability to bring together
everyone from street sweepers to
army officers and friendly British
operatives to Bedouin chiefs. As far
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