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Ernest Thesiger, a character actor who appeared in The Old Dark House and Bride of Frankenstein, served in the British army and came under artillery fire while celebrating Christmas Day in a barn.

In the 1990s I stayed in Kenya with Wilfred Thesiger — his whole life was spent among nomads.

Richard Burton, Charles Doughty, T E Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and Wilfred Thesiger all endured immense physical hardship in their quest to find something in the deserts of Arabia that was missing in their own country.

Thesiger, in particular, spoke of the enduring friendship, loyalty and generosity of the tribesmen he travelled with.

British explorer Wilfred Thesiger, a contemporary of Maxwell, wrote in his travel book Marsh Arabs about one occasion when he spotted two otters playing a hundred yards away.