Haslemere Hall will welcome Antony Wood for a u3a talk about Gertrude Bell on Monday, October 9 at 2pm. 

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE  born in 1868 was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She was the first woman to get a first-class honours degree in modern history at Oxford University. 

A woman in a man's world, Bell immersed herself in the Arab culture and became an "uncrowned Queen of the Desert", according to Helen Berry, professor of British History at Newcastle University.

Gertrude put her knowledge to work for the British government during the First World War and was instrumental in the creation of the country we now know as Iraq. But why is Gertrude not better known? 

Find out more with the u3a.

Click here for information on the talk.