MYSTERY MAN RETURNS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 30, 6 February 1929, Page 2

MYSTERY MAN RETURNS

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

what is ms mission?

THE WORLD’S ARCH-SPY.”

LONDON, February 4

Aircraftsman Shaw, otherwise Col. T. E. Lawrence of Arabian 'fame, persevered in his role ,of mystery man on arriving in England from Afghanistan, He avoided would-be , interviewers, landing at Plymouth in a naval pinnace before other passengers though he travelled as an ordinary thirdclass passenger. Many people, including journalists, awaited his arrival at Paddington station, but he crossed the rails to another platform and took a taxi-cab by a roundabout way to his flat in Kensiugtoij, where lie refused to be interviewed.

Recalling that the Afghan authorities placed a price on Col. Lawrence’s head as the world’s arch-spy, the Daily News urges that' Parliament should demand the truth about him. “It is no secret that, with him as a figure-head, England is credited abroad with maintaining a subtle—all seeing secret intelligence

service in the East” says tthe paper. “We have been assured he is more than Aircraftsman Shaw, but why should a most distinguished man, who hold a high and important position in the British Army in wartime and whose exploits are known all over the world, bo allowed to serve as a simple Air Force mechanic? “it is a curious and extremely irregular proceeding. Whatever the explanation bo we are certain it is not' in the interests of service discipline or the public weal that he should continue to masquerade as

Aircraftsman Shaw when his real identity is notorious and his activities arc a. matter of undesirable

speculation in almost 1 every country in tiic world.”