Freya Stark, travel writer, “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world”
The British-Italian explorer and travel writer developed a passion for the Orient at a young age, which she would later travel extensively.
Dame Freya Madeline Stark, an explorer and travel writer, lived a long and extraordinary life. Born in Paris, France in 1893 to a British father and an Italian mother of German and Polish descent who were both studying art, she developed a passion for the Orient at a young age when she was gifted a copy of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’.
She went on to study Arabic and Persian at the University of London before setting off for the Middle East in 1927. She spent the following four decades traveling the region widely sharing her experiences through her extensive writings. Stark summed up how she felt about traveling in her book ‘A Winter in Arabia’: “I have no reason to go, except that I have never been, and knowledge is better than ignorance. What better reason could there be for travelling?”
In an earlier work, ‘Baghdad Sketches’, she said: “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it.”
Stark built a reputation for herself through her writings and venturing into areas where Westerners didn’t normally go such as the Valleys of the Assassins in western Persia. Her extensive experience in the Middle East made her an ideal candidate when she , she offered her services to the British government at the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
She worked for the Ministry of Information spreading propaganda to create sympathy among the Arabs for the Allies’ cause. Her discussions across Egypt led to the creation of a secret society known as The Brotherhood of Freedom. She was later asked to set up a branch of the organization in Iraq.
The “passionate nomad” fell out of favor with British officials in 1943, however, when she went on a road trip from Delhi, India to Tehran. The car that she used was supposed to be sold at cost price to the Embassy car pool however, she ended up selling it for five times its value to another buyer.
Out of the diplomatic service, she continued to travel and write. She made her final expedition in the Orient in 1968 at age 75 to Afghanistan. Four years later she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Stark passed away a few months after her 100th birthday in Asolo, Italy in 1993.
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