This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011)

The Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort, better known by its acronym H.A.T.E., is one of two antagonistic organizations in Marvel Comics' Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., a series created by Warren Ellis.

H.A.T.E. and its leader, Dirk Anger, are parodies of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury. H.A.T.E. is a government agency that is funded by the Beyond Corporation©, a company that was formerly a terrorist cell called S.I.L.E.N.T. (the acronym has not been explained yet).

H.A.T.E. has many bizarre weapons at its disposal, such as plant-men and flesh-hungry koala bears. Its men follow orders, but are seen sometimes not to enjoy doing so. They have been seen fighting the Hulk many times.

According to Dirk Anger, H.A.T.E. has the best drugs.^{[citation needed]}

This Marvel Comics–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

T. E. Lawrence
Nickname	Lawrence of Arabia, El Aurens
Born	16 August 1888 (1888-08-16) Tremadog, Caernarfonshire, Wales
Died	19 May 1935 (1935-05-20) (aged 46) Bovington Camp, Dorset, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom Kingdom of Hejaz
Service/branch	British Army Royal Air Force
Years of service	1914–18 1923–35
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel and Aircraftman
Battles/wars	First World War Arab Revolt Siege of Medina Battle of Fwelia Battle of Aba el Lissan Battle of Aqaba Battle of Talifeh Battle of Deraa Capture of Damascus Battle of Megiddo
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath[1] Distinguished Service Order[2] Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur[3] Croix de guerre (France)[4]

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (16 August 1888^[5] – 19 May 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18. The extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title which was used for the 1962 film based on his World War I activities.

Lawrence was born illegitimate in Tremadog, Wales, in August 1888 to Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner, a governess who was herself illegitimate. Chapman had left his wife and first family in Ireland to live with Sarah Junner, and they called themselves Mr and Mrs Lawrence. In the summer of 1896 the Lawrences moved to Oxford, where in 1907–10 young Lawrence studied history at Jesus College, graduating with First Class Honours. He became a practising archaeologist in the Middle East, working at various excavations with David George Hogarth and Leonard Woolley. In 1908 he joined the OUOTC (Oxford University Officer Training Corps), undergoing a two-year training course.^[6] In January 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence was co-opted by the British Army to undertake a military survey of the Negev Desert while doing archaeological research.

Lawrence's public image was due in part to the sensationalised reportage of the revolt by an American journalist, Lowell Thomas, as well as to Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922).

Early life[link]

T. E. Lawrence's birthplace, Gorphwysfa, now known as Snowdon Lodge^[7]

Lawrence was born on 16 August 1888 in Tremadog, Caernarfonshire (now Gwynedd), Wales, in a house named Gorphwysfa, now known as Snowdon Lodge.^[8] His Anglo-Irish father, Thomas Robert Tighe Chapman, who in 1914 inherited the title of Westmeath in Ireland as seventh Baronet, had left his wife Edith for his daughters' governess Sarah Junner. Junner's mother, Elizabeth Junner, had named as Sarah's father a "John Junner – shipwright journeyman", though she had been living as an unmarried servant in the household of a John Lawrence, ship's carpenter, just four months earlier.^[9][10] The couple did not marry but were known as Mr and Mrs Lawrence.

Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner had five sons born out of wedlock, of whom Thomas Edward was the second eldest. From Wales the family moved to Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, then Dinard in Brittany, then to Jersey. From 1894–96 the family lived at Langley Lodge (now demolished), set in private woods between the eastern borders of the New Forest and Southampton Water in Hampshire. Mr Lawrence sailed and took the boys to watch yacht racing in the Solent off Lepe beach. By the time they left, the eight-year-old Ned (as Lawrence became known) had developed a taste for the countryside and outdoor activities.

In the summer of 1896 the Lawrences moved to 2 Polstead Road (now marked with a blue plaque) in Oxford, where, until 1921, they lived under the names of Mr and Mrs Lawrence. Lawrence attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where one of the four houses was later named "Lawrence" in his honour; the school closed in 1966.^[11] As a schoolboy, one of his favourite pastimes was to cycle to country churches and make brass rubbings. Lawrence and one of his brothers became commissioned officers in the Church Lads' Brigade at St Aldate's Church.

Lawrence claimed that in about 1905, he ran away from home and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall, from which he was bought out. No evidence of this can be found in army records.^[12]

Middle East archaeology[link]

At the age of 15 Lawrence and his schoolfriend Cyril Beeson bicycled around Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, visited almost every village's parish church, studied their monuments and antiquities and made rubbings of their monumental brasses.^[13] Lawrence and Beeson monitored building sites in Oxford and presented their finds to the Ashmolean Museum.^[13] The Ashmolean's Annual Report for 1906 said that the two teenage boys "by incessant watchfulness secured everything of antiquarian value which has been found".^[13] In the summers of 1906 and 1907 Lawrence and Beeson toured France by bicycle, collecting photographs, drawings and measurements of medieval castles.^[13]

From 1907 to 1910 Lawrence studied history at Jesus College, Oxford.^[14] In the summer of 1909 Lawrence set out alone on a three-month walking tour of crusader castles in Ottoman Syria, in which he travelled 1,000 mi (1,600 km) on foot. Lawrence graduated with First Class Honours after submitting a thesis entitled The influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture – to the end of the 12th century based on his field research with Beeson in France,^[13] notably in Châlus, and his solo research in the Middle East.^[15]

Leonard Woolley (left) and T.E. Lawrence at Carchemish, ca. 1912

On completing his degree in 1910, Lawrence commenced postgraduate research in mediaeval pottery with a Senior Demy, a form of scholarship, at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he abandoned after he was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist in the Middle East. Lawrence was a polyglot whose published work demonstrates competence in French, Ancient Greek, and Arabic.

T.E. Lawrence and Leonard Woolley (right) at Carchemish, spring 1913

In December 1910 he sailed for Beirut, and on arrival went to Jbail (Byblos), where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish, near Jerablus in northern Syria, where he worked under D. G. Hogarth and R. Campbell Thompson of the British Museum. He would later state that everything that he had accomplished, he owed to Hogarth.^[16] As the site lay near an important crossing on the Baghdad Railway, knowledge gathered there was of considerable importance to the military. While excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, Lawrence met Gertrude Bell, who was to influence him during his time in the Middle East.

In late 1911, Lawrence returned to England for a brief sojourn. By November he was en route to Beirut for a second season at Carchemish, where he was to work with Leonard Woolley. Prior to resuming work there, however, he briefly worked with Flinders Petrie at Kafr Ammar in Egypt.

Lawrence continued making trips to the Middle East as a field archaeologist until the outbreak of the First World War. In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Negev Desert. They were funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as the "Wilderness of Zin"; along the way, they undertook an archaeological survey of the Negev Desert. The Negev was of strategic importance, as it would have to be crossed by any Ottoman army attacking Egypt in the event of war. Woolley and Lawrence subsequently published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings,^[17] but a more important result was an updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. Lawrence also visited Aqaba and Petra.

From March to May 1914, Lawrence worked again at Carchemish. Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Lawrence did not immediately enlist in the British Army; on the advice of S.F. Newcombe he held back until October, when he was commissioned on the General List.

Arab revolt[link]

Lawrence at Rabigh, north of Jidda, 1917

At the outbreak of the First World War Lawrence was a university post-graduate researcher who had for years travelled extensively within the Ottoman Empire provinces of the Levant (Transjordan and Palestine) and Mesopotamia (Syria and Iraq) under his own name. As such he became known to the Turkish Interior Ministry authorities and their German technical advisors. Lawrence came into contact with the Ottoman–German technical advisers, travelling over the German-designed, -built, and -financed railways during the course of his researches.^{[citation needed]}

With his first-hand knowledge of Syria, the Levant, and Mesopotamia, Lawrence was in 1914 posted to Cairo on the Intelligence Staff of the GOC Middle East.^[18]

Contrary to later myth, it was neither Lawrence nor the Army that conceived a campaign of internal insurgency against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, but rather the Arab Bureau of Britain's Foreign Office. The Arab Bureau had long felt it likely that a campaign instigated and financed by outside powers, supporting the breakaway-minded tribes and regional challengers to the Turkish government's centralised rule of their empire, would pay great dividends in the diversion of effort that would be needed to meet such a challenge. The Arab Bureau had recognised the strategic value of what is today called the "asymmetry" of such conflict. The Ottoman authorities would have to devote from a hundred to a thousand times the resources to contain the threat of such an internal rebellion compared to the Allies' cost of sponsoring it.^{[citation needed]}

At that point in the Foreign Office's thinking, the region was not considered candidate territories for incorporation in the British Empire but only as an extension of the range of British Imperial influence and the weakening and destruction of a German ally, the Ottoman Empire.^{[citation needed]}

During the war, Lawrence fought with Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Faisal, a son of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, in extended guerrilla operations against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. He persuaded the Arabs not to make a frontal assault on the Ottoman stronghold in Medina but allowed the Turkish army to tie up troops in the city garrison. The Arabs were then free to direct most of their attention to the Turks' weak point, the Hejaz railway that supplied the garrison. This vastly expanded the battlefield and tied up even more Ottoman troops, who were then forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage.^{[citation needed]}

Capture of Aqaba[link]

Lawrence at Aqaba, 1917

In 1917, Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under Auda Abu Tayi (until then in the employ of the Ottomans) against the strategically located but lightly defended^[19][20][21] town of Aqaba. On 6 July, after a surprise overland attack, Aqaba fell to Lawrence and the Arab forces. After Aqaba, Lawrence was promoted to major. Fortunately for Lawrence, the new commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, General Sir Edmund Allenby, agreed to his strategy for the revolt, stating after the war:

"I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign."

Lawrence now held a powerful position, as an adviser to Faisal and a person who had Allenby's confidence.

Fall of Damascus[link]

The following year, Lawrence was involved in the build up to the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war. Much to his disappointment, and contrary to instructions he had issued, he was not present at the city's formal surrender, arriving several hours after the city had fallen. Lawrence entered Damascus around 9am on 1 October 1918, but was only the third arrival of the day, the first being the 10th Australian Light Horse Brigade, led by Major A.C.N. 'Harry' Olden who formally accepted the surrender of the city from acting Governor Emir Said.^{[22] [23] [24] [25] [26]} Despite his absence for the formal surrender, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in late 1918 for the role he had played in the capture of Damascus. Lawrence was reportedly embittered by having been beaten into the city by the Australians, and resented them for it later in his life. In his own recollections of the capture of Damascus he completely omitted the key role played by the Australians, and this error was widely believed and later repeated by many historians.^[27][28]

In newly liberated Damascus—which he had envisaged as the capital of an Arab state—Lawrence was instrumental in establishing a provisional Arab government under Faisal. Faisal's rule as king, however, came to an abrupt end in 1920, after the battle of Maysaloun, when the French Forces of General Gouraud, under the command of General Mariano Goybet, entered Damascus, destroying Lawrence's dream of an independent Arabia.

As was his habit when travelling before the war, Lawrence adopted many local customs and traditions (many photographs show him in the desert wearing white Arab dishdasha and riding camels).

During the closing years of the war he sought, with mixed success, to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests. The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain contradicted the promises of independence he had made to the Arabs and frustrated his work.^[29]

In 1918 he co-operated with war correspondent Lowell Thomas for a short period. During this time Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot a great deal of film and many photographs, which Thomas used in a highly lucrative film that toured the world after the war.

Postwar years[link]

Emir Faisal's party at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Left to right: Rustum Haidar, Nuri as-Said, Prince Faisal (front), Captain Pisani (rear), T. E. Lawrence, Faisal's slave (name unknown), Captain Hassan Khadri.

Immediately after the war, Lawrence worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation. He served for much of 1921 as an advisor to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office.

On 17 May 1919, the Handley Page Type O carrying Lawrence on a flight to Egypt crashed at the airport of Roma-Centocelle. The pilot and co-pilot were killed; Lawrence came off with a broken shoulder blade and two broken ribs.^[30] During his brief hospitalisation, he was visited by King Victor Emanuel III.^[31]

In August 1919, the American journalist Lowell Thomas launched a colourful photo show in London entitled With Allenby in Palestine which included a lecture, dancing, and music.^[32] Initially, Lawrence played only a supporting role in the show, but when Thomas realized that it was the photos of Lawrence dressed as a Bedouin that had captured the public's imagination, he shot some more photos in London of him in Arab dress.^[32] With the new photos, Thomas re-launched his show as With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia in early 1920; it was extremely popular.^[32] Thomas' shows made Lawrence, who until then had been rather obscure, into a household name.^[32]

In August 1922, Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an aircraftman under the name John Hume Ross, at RAF Uxbridge. He was soon exposed and, in February 1923, was forced out of the RAF. He changed his name to T. E. Shaw and joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1923. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally readmitted him in August 1925.^[33] A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert (see below) resulted in his assignment to a remote base in British India in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time he was forced to return to Britain after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.

Lt Col T. E. Lawrence, Emir Abdullah, Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond, Sir Herbert Samuel H.B.M. high commissioner and Sir Wyndham Deedes and others in Jerusalem.

He purchased several small plots of land in Chingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. This was removed in 1930 when the Chingford Urban District Council acquired the land and passed it to the City of London Corporation, but re-erected the hut in the grounds of The Warren, Loughton, where it remains, neglected, today. Lawrence's tenure of the Chingford land has now been commemorated by a plaque fixed on the sighting obelisk on Pole Hill.

He continued serving in the RAF based at Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, specialising in high-speed boats and professing happiness, and it was with considerable regret that he left the service at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.

Lawrence was a keen motorcyclist, and, at different times, had owned seven Brough Superior motorcycles.^[34] His seventh motorcycle is on display at the Imperial War Museum. Among the books Lawrence is known to have carried with him on his military campaigns is Thomas Malory's Morte D'Arthur. Accounts of the 1934 discovery of the Winchester Manuscript of the Morte include a report that Lawrence followed Eugene Vinaver—a Malory scholar—by motorcycle from Manchester to Winchester upon reading of the discovery in The Times.^[35]

Death[link]

Lawrence on a Brough Superior SS100

Lawrence's last Brough Superior, Imperial War Museum, London

At the age of 46, two months after leaving the service, Lawrence was fatally injured in an accident on his Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, near Wareham. A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control and was thrown over the handlebars. He died six days later on 19 May 1935. The spot is marked by a small memorial at the side of the road.

The circumstances of Lawrence's death had far-reaching consequences. One of the doctors attending him was the neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns. He was profoundly affected by the incident, and consequently began a long study of what he saw as the unnecessary loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.^[36]

Moreton Estate, which borders Bovington Camp, was owned by family cousins, the Frampton family. Lawrence had rented and later bought Clouds Hill from the Framptons. He had been a frequent visitor to their home, Okers Wood House, and had for years corresponded with Louisa Frampton. On Lawrence's death, his mother arranged with the Framptons for him to be buried in their family plot at Moreton Church.^[37] His coffin was transported on the Frampton estate's bier. Mourners included Winston and Clementine Churchill and Lawrence's youngest brother, Arnold.

A bust of Lawrence was placed in the crypt at St Paul's Cathedral and a stone effigy by Eric Kennington remains in the Anglo-Saxon church of St Martin, Wareham.

Writings[link]

Throughout his life, Lawrence was a prolific writer. A large portion of his output was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day. Several collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves, Noël Coward, E. M. Forster, Siegfried Sassoon, John Buchan, Augustus John and Henry Williamson. He met Joseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. The many letters that he sent to Shaw's wife, Charlotte, offer a revealing side of his character.^[38]

In his lifetime, Lawrence published four major texts. Two were translations: Homer's Odyssey, and The Forest Giant — the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.

[edit] Seven Pillars of Wisdom

14 Barton Street, London S.W.1, where Lawrence lived while writing Seven Pillars.

Lawrence's major work is Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919 he had been elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book. In addition to being a memoir of his experiences during the war, certain parts also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. Lawrence re-wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times; once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains at Reading railway station.

The list of his alleged "embellishments" in Seven Pillars is long, though many such allegations have been disproved with time, most definitively in Jeremy Wilson's authorised biography. However Lawrence's own notebooks refute his claim to have crossed the Sinai Peninsula from Aqaba to the Suez Canal in just 49 hours without any sleep. In reality this famous camel ride lasted for more than 70 hours and was interrupted by two long breaks for sleeping which Lawrence omitted when he wrote his book.^[39]

Lawrence acknowledged having been helped in the editing of the book by George Bernard Shaw. In the preface to Seven Pillars, Lawrence offered his "thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw for countless suggestions of great value and diversity: and for all the present semicolons."

The first public edition was published in 1926 as a high-priced private subscription edition, printed in London by Roy Manning Pike and Herbert John Hodgson, with illustrations by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, Blair Hughes-Stanton and his wife Gertrude Hermes. Lawrence was afraid that the public would think that he would make a substantial income from the book, and he stated that it was written as a result of his war service. He vowed not to take any money from it, and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one third of the production costs.^[40] This left Lawrence in substantial debt.

[edit] Revolt in the Desert

Sketch by Augustus John, 1919

Revolt in the Desert was an abridged version of Seven Pillars, which he began in 1926 and was published in March 1927 in both limited and trade editions. He undertook a needed but reluctant publicity exercise, which resulted in a best-seller. Again he vowed not to take any fees from the publication, partly to appease the subscribers to Seven Pillars who had paid dearly for their editions. By the fourth reprint in 1927, the debt from Seven Pillars was paid off. As Lawrence left for military service in India at the end of 1926, he set up the "Seven Pillars Trust" with his friend D. G. Hogarth as a trustee, in which he made over the copyright and any surplus income of Revolt in the Desert. He later told Hogarth that he had "made the Trust final, to save myself the temptation of reviewing it, if Revolt turned out a best seller."

The resultant trust paid off the debt, and Lawrence then invoked a clause in his publishing contract to halt publication of the abridgment in the UK. However, he allowed both American editions and translations, which resulted in a substantial flow of income. The trust paid income either into an educational fund for children of RAF officers who lost their lives or were invalided as a result of service, or more substantially into the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Posthumous[link]

Lawrence left unpublished The Mint,^[41] a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. For this, he worked from a notebook that he kept while enlisted, writing of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the Royal Air Force. The book is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom, using sparse prose as opposed to the complicated syntax found in Seven Pillars. It was published posthumously, edited by his brother, Professor A. W. Lawrence.

After Lawrence's death, A. W. Lawrence inherited all Lawrence's estate and his copyrights as the sole beneficiary. To pay the inheritance tax, he sold the U.S. copyright of Seven Pillars of Wisdom (subscribers' text) outright to Doubleday Doran in 1935. Doubleday still controls publication rights of this version of the text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in the USA. In 1936 Prof. Lawrence split the remaining assets of the estate, giving Clouds Hill and many copies of less substantial or historical letters to the nation via the National Trust, and then set up two trusts to control interests in T. E. Lawrence's residual copyrights. To the original Seven Pillars Trust, Prof. Lawrence assigned the copyright in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as a result of which it was given its first general publication. To the Letters and Symposium Trust, he assigned the copyright in The Mint and all Lawrence's letters, which were subsequently edited and published in the book T. E. Lawrence by his Friends (edited by A. W. Lawrence, London, Jonathan Cape, 1937).

A substantial amount of income went directly to the RAF Benevolent Fund or for archaeological, environmental, or academic projects. The two trusts were amalgamated in 1986 and, on the death of Prof. A. W. Lawrence, the unified trust also acquired all the remaining rights to Lawrence's works that it had not owned, plus rights to all of Prof. Lawrence's works.

Bibliography[link]

• Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of Lawrence's part in the Arab Revolt. (ISBN 0-8488-0562-3)
• Revolt in the Desert, an abridged version of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. (ISBN 1-56619-275-7)
• The Mint, an account of Lawrence's service in the Royal Air Force. (ISBN 0-393-00196-2)
• Crusader Castles, Lawrence's Oxford thesis. London: Michael Haag 1986 (ISBN 0-902743-53-8). The first edition was published in London in 1936 by the Golden Cockerel Press, in 2 volumes, limited to 1000 editions.
• The Odyssey of Homer, Lawrence's translation from the Greek. (ISBN 0-19-506818-1)
• The Forest Giant, by Adrien Le Corbeau, novel, Lawrence's translation from the French, 1924.
• The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, selected and edited by Malcolm Brown. London, J. M Dent. 1988 (ISBN 0-460-04733-7)
• The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, edited by David Garnett. (ISBN 0-88355-856-4)
• Jeremy Wilson, T. E. Lawrence. Letters. (See Prospectus [2])
• Minorities: Good Poems by Small Poets and Small Poems by Good Poets, edited by Jeremy Wilson, 1971. Lawrence's commonplace book includes an introduction by Jeremy Wilson that explains how the poems comprising the book reflected Lawrence's life and thoughts.

Sexuality[link]

Lawrence's biographers have discussed his sexuality at considerable length, and this discussion has spilled into the popular press.^[42]

There is no reliable evidence for consensual sexual intimacy between Lawrence and any person. His friends have expressed the opinion that he was asexual,^[43][44] and Lawrence himself specifically denied, in multiple private letters, any personal experience of sex.^[45] While there were suggestions that Lawrence had been intimate with Dahoum, who worked with Lawrence at a pre-war archaeological dig in Carchemish,^[46] and fellow-serviceman R.A.M. Guy,^[47] his biographers and contemporaries have found them unconvincing.^[46][47][48]

The dedication to his book Seven Pillars is a poem entitled "To S.A." which opens:

I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
                    and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To earn you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
                    that your eyes might be shining for me
                              When we came.

Lawrence was never specific about the identity of "S.A." There are many theories which argue in favour of individual men, women, and the Arab nation.^[49] The most popular is that S.A. represents (at least in part) his companion Selim Ahmed, "Dahoum", who apparently died of typhus prior to 1918.

Although Lawrence lived in a period during which official opposition to homosexuality was strong, his writing on the subject was tolerant. In Seven Pillars, when discussing relationships between young male fighters in the war, he refers on one occasion to "the openness and honesty of perfect love"^[50] and on another to "friends quivering together in the yielding sand with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace".^[51] In a letter to Charlotte Shaw he wrote "I've seen lots of man-and-man loves: very lovely and fortunate some of them were."^[52]

In both Seven Pillars and a 1919 letter to a military colleague,^[53] Lawrence describes an episode in November 1917 in which, while reconnoitring Dera'a in disguise, he was captured by the Turkish military, heavily beaten, and sexually abused by the local Bey and his guardsmen. The precise nature of the sexual contact is not specified. Although there is no independent evidence, the multiple consistent reports, and the absence of evidence for outright invention in Lawrence's works, make the account believable to his biographers.^[54] At least three of Lawrence's biographers (Malcolm Brown, John Mack, and Jeremy Wilson) have argued this episode had strong psychological effects on Lawrence which may explain some of his unconventional behaviour in later life.

There is considerable evidence that Lawrence was a masochist. In his description of the Dera'a beating, Lawrence wrote "a delicious warmth, probably sexual, was swelling through me", and also included a detailed description of the guards' whip in a style typical of masochists' writing.^[55] In later life, Lawrence arranged to pay a military colleague to administer beatings to him,^[42] and to be subjected to severe formal tests of fitness and stamina.^[56] While John Bruce, who first wrote on this topic, included some other claims which were not credible, Lawrence's biographers regard the beatings as established fact.^[57]

John E. Mack sees a possible connection between T.E.'s masochism and the childhood beatings he had received from his mother^[58] for routine misbehaviours.^[59] His brother Arnold thought the beatings had been given for the purpose of breaking T.E.'s will.^[60]

Awards[link]

Lawrence was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath and awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the French Légion d'Honneur, though in October 1918 he refused to be made a Knight Commander of the British Empire.

Portrayals[link]

Film

Lawrence was portrayed by Peter O'Toole in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia.

Television

• He was portrayed by Judson Scott in the 1982 TV series Voyagers!
• Ralph Fiennes portrayed Lawrence in the 1990 made-for-TV movie A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia.
• Joseph A. Bennett and Douglas Henshall portrayed him in the 1992 TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. In Young Indiana Jones, Lawrence is portrayed as being a life-long friend of the title character.
• He was also portrayed in an Arabic series, directed by Thayer Musa, called "Lawrence Al Arab". The series consisted of 37 episodes, each between 45 minutes and one hour in length.^[61]

Theatre

• Lawrence was the subject of Terence Rattigan's controversial play Ross, which explored Lawrence's alleged homosexuality. Ross ran in London in 1960–61, starring Alec Guinness, who was an admirer of Lawrence and Gerald Harper as his blackmailer, Dickinson. The play had originally been written as a screenplay, but the planned film was never made, although large sections of the play's script can be identified in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia,^[62] in which Alec Guinness plays Prince Faisal. In January 1986 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth on the opening night of the revival of Ross, Marc Sinden, who was playing Dickinson (the man who recognised and blackmailed Lawrence, played by Simon Ward), was introduced to the man that the character of 'Dickinson' was based on. Sinden asked him why he had blackmailed Ross, and he replied, "Oh, for the money. I was financially embarrassed at the time and needed to get up to London to see a girlfriend. It was never meant to be a big thing, but a good friend of mine was very close to Terence Rattigan and years later, the silly devil told him the story".^[63]
• Alan Bennett's Forty Years On (1968) includes a satire on Lawrence; known as "Tee Hee Lawrence" because of his high-pitched, girlish giggle. "Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince ... he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas he was mistaken." The section concludes with the headmaster confusing him with D. H. Lawrence.
• The character of Private Napoleon Meek in George Bernard Shaw's 1931 play Too True to Be Good was inspired by Lawrence. Meek is depicted as thoroughly conversant with the language and lifestyle of tribals. He repeatedly enlists with the army, quitting whenever offered a promotion.
• T. E. Lawrence's first year back at Oxford after the Great War to write his Seven Pillars of Wisdom was portrayed by Tom Rooney in a play, The Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion, written by Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte (premiered Toronto 2006). The play explores Lawrence's political, physical and psychological reactions to war, and his friendship with poet Robert Graves. Urban Stages presented the American premiere in New York City in October 2007; Lawrence was portrayed by actor Dylan Chalfy.
• Lawrence's final years are portrayed in a one-man show by Raymond Sargent, The Warrior and the Poet.

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Hashemite
• Suleiman Mousa
• Kingdom of Iraq
• Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T.E. Lawrence

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Richard Aldington, Lawrence of Arabia. A Biographical Enquiry, London, Collins, 1955.
• Flora Armitage, The Desert and the Stars: a Biography of Lawrence of Arabia, illustrated with photographs, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1955.
• Malcolm Brown and Julia Cave, A Touch of Genius. The Life of T. E. Lawrence, London, J. M. Brent, 1988.
• Malcolm Brown, Lawrence of Arabia: the Life, the Legend. London, Thames & Hudson : [In association with] Imperial War Museum, 2005. ISBN 0-500-51238-8
• Victoria K. Carchidi, Creation Out of the Void: the Making of a Hero, an Epic, a world: T. E. Lawrence, 1987 diss., U. Pennsylvania, (Ann Arbor, MI University Microfilms International).
• Richard Perceval Graves, Lawrence of Arabia and His World
• Robert Graves, Lawrence and the Arabs, London, Jonathan Cape, 1927 (published in the USA as Lawrence and the Arabian Adventure, New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1928).
• George Amin Hoffman, T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and the M1911.
• John C. Hulsman, To Begin the World over Again: Lawrence of Arabia from Damascus to Baghdad, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. ISBN 978-0-230-61742-1
• H. Montgomery Hyde, Solitary in the Ranks. Lawrence of Arabia as Airman and Private Soldier, London, Constable, 1977. ISBN 0-09-462070-9
• Phillip Knightley and Colin Simpson The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia
• John E. Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence, Boston, Little, Brown, 1976, ISBN 0-316-54232-6.
• Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac, Kingmakers: the Invention of the Modern Middle East, New York, London, W.W. Norton, 2008, ISBN 978-0-393-06199-4.
• Suleiman Mousa, T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View, London, Oxford University Press, 1966.
• Anthony Nutting, Lawrence of Arabia: The Man and the Motive, London, Hollis & Carter, 1961.
• Victoria Ocampo, 338171 T. E. (Lawrence of Arabia), 1963.
• Harold Orlans, T. E. Lawrence: Biography of a Broken Hero, Jefferson, North Carolina, and London, McFarland, 2002, ISBN 0-7864-1307-7.
• Guy Penaud, Le Tour de France de Lawrence d'Arabie (1908), Editions de La Lauze (Périgueux, France), 336 pages, 2007/2008, ISBN 978-2-35249-024-1.
• François Sarindar, Lawrence d'Arabie. Thomas Edward, cet inconnu, collection Comprendre le Moyen-Orient, L'Harmattan (Paris, France), 334 pages, 2010, ISBN 978-2-296-11677-1.
• Andrew R.B.Simpson, Another Life: Lawrence after Arabia, The History Press, 366 pages, 2008, ISBN 978-1-86227-464-8.
• Charles M. Stang, editor, The Waking Dream of T. E. Lawrence: Essays on His Life, Literature, and Legacy, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
• Desmond Stewart, T. E. Lawrence, New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1977
• Lowell Thomas, With Lawrence in Arabia, 1924
• Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T.E. Lawrence, 1989, ISBN 0-689-11934-8.
• Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World, directed by James Hawes. PBS Home Video, 21 October 2003. (ASIN B0000BWVND)
• T. E. Lawrence by His Friends [3], insights about Lawrence by those who knew him. Doubleday Doran, (1937). Republished 1967
• Korda, Michael (2010). Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-171261-6. 
• Footage of Lawrence of Arabia with publisher FN Doubleday and at a picnic

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2011)

Find more about T. E. Lawrence on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource

• T. E. Lawrence Studies, maintained by Lawrence's authorised biographer Jeremy Wilson
• The T. E. Lawrence Society
• Works by T. E. Lawrence
• T.E. Lawrence's Collection at The University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center

• The Guardian May 19, 1935 - The death of Lawrence of Arabia
• The Legend of Lawrence of Arabia: The Recalcitrant Hero
• “Creating History: Lowell Thomas and Lawrence of Arabia” online history exhibit at Clio Visualizing History.
• T. E. Lawrence: The Enigmatic Lawrence of Arabia article by O'Brien Browne
• Lawrence of Arabia: True and false (an Arab view) by Lucy Ladikoff
• T.E. Lawrence and Clouds Hill by Westrow Cooper in www.theglobaldispatches.com

H. Allen Jerkens
Occupation	Trainer
Born	April 21, 1929 Islip, New York
Career wins	3600+ (ongoing)
Major racing wins, honours and awards
Major racing wins
Toboggan Handicap (1957, 1963, 1969, 1970) Brooklyn Handicap (1962, 1967, 1981, 1994) Man o' War Stakes (1962) Suburban Handicap (1962, 1993, 1994, 2007) Beldame Stakes (1967) Vagrancy Handicap (1968, 1969, 1989, 1994, 1995) Manhattan Handicap (1969) Spinster Stakes (1970) Delaware Handicap (1971, 1972) Metropolitan Handicap (1971) Vosburgh Stakes (1971) Cowdin Stakes (1972, 2003) Diana Handicap (1972, 1974) Carter Handicap (1973, 1994) Jockey Club Gold Cup (1973, 1975, 1998) Whitney Handicap (1973) Woodward Stakes (1973) Hempstead Handicap (1974, 1992, 1994) Derby Trial Stakes (1975) Comely Stakes (1976, 1994, 1997, 2004) Alcibiades Stakes (1985) Acorn Stakes (1988, 1993) Alabama Stakes (1992, 1993, 1994) Shuvee Handicap (1992, 1994, 2002, 2005, 2007) Test Stakes (1992, 2004, 2006) Wood Memorial Stakes (1992) Coaching Club American Oaks (1993) Mother Goose Stakes (1993) Pimlico Special (1993) Ruffian Handicap (1994) Ballerina Stakes (1995, 2001, 2002) Bold Ruler Handicap (1995, 1998, 1999) Gazelle Stakes (1997) Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes (1998) Frizette Stakes (2003)
Racing awards
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer (1973)
Honours
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (1975)
Significant horses
Beau Purple, Devil His Due, Duck Dance King's Bishop, Onion, Prove Out Sensitive Prince, Sky Beauty

Harry Allen Jerkens (born April 21, 1929 in Islip, Long Island, New York) is an American Thoroughbred race horse Hall of Fame trainer.

Jerkens' father owned a riding academy on Long Island that led to his interest in horse racing and in 1950 he trained his first winner. Sometimes called the "Giant Killer", he is best known for his upsets. Jerkins saddled 1973 Whitney Handicap winner Onion (defeating Secretariat), 1973 Woodward Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Prove Out (defeating Secretariat and Riva Ridge, respectively), and Beau Purple, who defeated Kelso in 3 of their four meetings. In addition his horses have defeated other greats such as Buckpasser, Cougar II, and Forego.

In 1973, H. Allen Jerkens was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and in 1975 he became the youngest trainer ever inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at the age of 45. Still active, he has trained more than 160 stakes winners including Duck Dance and Tunex.

His son Jimmy followed in his footsteps and is also a successful trainer.

External links[link]

• H. Allen Jerkens official website

50 Cent
50 Cent in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Curtis James Jackson III
Born	(1975-07-06) July 6, 1975 (age 36)
Origin	South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Aftermath, Shady, G-Unit
Associated acts	G-Unit, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Sha Money XL, DJ Whoo Kid
Website	50cent.com

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003) and The Massacre (2005). His album Get Rich or Die Tryin' has been certified eight times platinum by the RIAA.^[1]

Born in the South Jamaica of Queens, New York City, Jackson began drug dealing at the age of twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic.^[2] After leaving drug dealing to pursue a rap career, he was shot at and struck by nine bullets during an incident in 2000. After releasing his album Guess Who's Back? in 2002, Jackson was discovered by rapper Eminem and signed to Interscope Records. With the help of Eminem and Dr. Dre, who produced his first major commercial successes, Jackson became one of the world's highest selling rappers. In 2003, he founded the record label G-Unit Records, which signed several successful rappers such as Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo.

Jackson has engaged in feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule, Nas, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Cam'ron, Puff Daddy, Rick Ross, and former G-Unit members The Game and Young Buck. He has also pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005, the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006, and Righteous Kill in 2008. 50 Cent was ranked as the sixth-best artist of the 2000s by Billboard magazine. The magazine also ranked him as the fourth top male artist and as the third top rapper behind Eminem and Nelly.^[3] Billboard magazine also ranked him as the sixth best and most successful Hot 100 Artist of the 2000s^[4] and as the number one rap artist of the 2000s.^[5] Billboard ranked his album Get Rich or Die Tryin' as the twelfth best album of the 2000s^[6] and his album The Massacre as the 37th best album of the 2000s.^[7] As of September 2011, 50 Cent is working on his fifth studio album, which is set to be released in 2012.^[8]

Early life[link]

Curtis Jackson III grew up in South Jamaica, a poverty-stricken urban neighborhood in Queens, New York City. He grew up without a father and was raised by his mother, Sabrina, who gave birth to him at the age of fifteen. Sabrina, a cocaine dealer, raised Jackson until the age of eight, when she was killed in 1983. Twenty-seven years old at the time, she became unconscious after someone drugged her drink. She was then left for dead after the gas in her apartment was turned on and the windows shut closed.^[9][10]

After her death, Jackson moved into his grandparents' house with his eight aunts and uncles.^[11][12][13] He recalls, "My grandmother told me, 'Your mother's not coming home. She's not gonna come back to pick you up. You're gonna stay with us now.' That's when I started adjusting to the streets a little bit".^[14]

Jackson began boxing around the age of eleven. At fourteen, a neighbor opened a boxing gym for local kids. "When I wasn't killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip", he recalled.^[15] In the mid 1980s, he competed in the Junior Olympics as an amateur boxer. He recounts, "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ".^[16] At the age of twelve, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was at after-school programs.^[17] He also took guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School. He later stated, "I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that... After I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grandmother [openly], 'I sell drugs.'"^[14]

Following time spent in a correctional boot camp, Jackson adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for "change".^[18] The name was derived from Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent". Jackson chose the name "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means".^[19]

Music career[link]

1996–99: Early career[link]

Jackson started rapping in a friend's basement where he used turntables to record over instrumentals.^[20] In 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC who was organizing his label Jam Master Jay Records.

Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs, and how to make a record.^[21][22] Jackson's first official appearance was on a song titled "React" with the group Onyx on their 1998 album Shut 'Em Down. He credited Jam Master Jay as an influence who helped him improve his ability to write hooks.^[16] Jay produced Jackson's first album; however, it was never released.^[9]

In 1999, after leaving Jam Master Jay, the platinum-selling producers Trackmasters took notice of Jackson and signed him to Columbia Records. They sent him to a studio in Upstate New York where he produced thirty-six songs in two weeks.^[10] Eighteen were included on his unofficially released album, Power of the Dollar in 2000.^[23] He also started the now-defunct Hollow Point Entertainment with former G-Unit affiliate Bang 'Em Smurf.^[24][25]

Jackson's popularity started to increase after the successful but controversial underground single, "How to Rob", which he wrote in half an hour while in a car on the way to a studio.^[18][26] The track comically explains how he would rob famous artists. He explained the reasoning behind song's content as, "There's a hundred artists on that label, you gotta separate yourself from that group and make yourself relevant".^[18] Rappers Jay-Z, Kurupt, Sticky Fingaz, Big Pun, DMX, Wyclef Jean and the Wu-Tang Clan replied to the song^[26] and Nas, who received the track positively, invited Jackson to travel on a promotional tour for his Nastradamus album.^[13] The song was intended to be released with "Thug Love" featuring Destiny's Child, but two days before he was scheduled to film the "Thug Love" music video, Jackson was shot and confined to a hospital due to his injuries.^[27]

2000–01: Shooting[link]

On May 24, 2000, Jackson was attacked by a gunman, alleged to be Darryl "Hommo" Baum, outside his grandmother's former home in South Jamaica, Queens. He went into a friend's car, but was asked to return to the house to get jewelry.

His son was in the house, while his grandmother was in the front yard.^[10] Upon returning to the back seat of the car and already seated, another car pulled up nearby. An assailant then walked up to Jackson's left side with a 9mm handgun and fired nine shots at close range. He was shot nine times: in the hand (a round hit his right thumb, to where the bullet passed through and out his little finger), arm, hip, both legs, chest, and his face (his left cheek).^[9][14][28] The face wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth, and a small slur in his voice.^[13][14][29] His friend also sustained a gunshot wound to the hand. They were driven to the hospital where Jackson spent thirteen days.

Baum, the alleged shooter, was killed three weeks later.^[30]

Baum was also Mike Tyson's close friend and bodyguard.^[31]

Jackson recalled the incident saying, "It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back.... I was scared the whole time.... I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, 'Oh @#!*% , somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.'"^[14] In his autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens, he wrote, "After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life... How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone".^[11] He used a walker for the first six weeks and fully recovered after five months. When he left the hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his then-girlfriend and son. His workout regime helped him attain his muscular physique.^[9][14][32]

While in the hospital, Jackson signed a publishing deal with Columbia Records. However, he was dropped from the label and "blacklisted" in the recording industry because of his song "Ghetto Qu'ran".

Unable to find a studio to work with in the U.S, he traveled to Canada.^[33][34] Along with his business partner Sha Money XL, he recorded over thirty songs for mixtapes, with the purpose of building a reputation.

According to Shady Records A&R Marc Labelle in an interview with HitQuarters, Jackson shrewdly used the mixtape circuit to his own advantage saying, "He took all the hottest beats from every artist and flipped them with better hooks. They then got into all the markets on the mixtapes and all the mixtape DJs were messing with them."^[35] Jackson's popularity rose and in 2002, he released material independently on the mixtape, Guess Who's Back?. Beginning to attract interest, and now backed by G-Unit, Jackson continued to release music including 50 Cent Is the Future. The mixtape revisited material by Jay-Z and Raphael Saadiq.^[23]

2002–09: Rise to fame[link]

In 2002, Eminem listened to a copy of Jackson's Guess Who's Back? CD. He received the CD through Jackson's attorney, who was working with Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg.^[27] Impressed with the album, Eminem invited Jackson to fly to Los Angeles, where he was introduced to Dr. Dre.^[9][21][27] After signing a $1 million record deal,^[21] Jackson released the mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear. It featured one new track, "Wanksta", which was put on Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack.^[23] He was also signed to Chris Lighty's Violator Management and Sha Money XL's Money Management Group.

In February 2003, Jackson released his commercial debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Allmusic described it as "probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade".^[36] Rolling Stone noted the album for its "dark synth grooves, buzzy keyboards and a persistently funky bounce" with Jackson complementing the production in "an unflappable, laid-back flow".^[37]

It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in the first four days.^[38] The lead single, "In da Club", which The Source noted for its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps",^[39] broke a Billboard record as the most listened-to song in radio history within a week.^[40]

Interscope granted Jackson his own label, G-Unit Records in 2003.^[41] He signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and Young Buck as the established members of G-Unit. The Game was later signed under a joint venture with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.

In March 2005, Jackson's second commercial album, The Massacre, sold 1.14 million copies in the first four days-the highest in an abbreviated sales cycle^[38]- and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for six weeks.^[42]

He became the first solo artist to have three singles on the Billboard top five in the same week with "Candy Shop", "Disco Inferno", and "How We Do".^[43] Rolling Stone noted that "50's secret weapon is his singing voice - the deceptively amateur-sounding tenor croon that he deploys on almost every chorus".^[44]

From left: With Olivia, Lloyd Banks, and Young Buck in Bangkok, Thailand, February 2006

After The Game's departure, Jackson signed singer Olivia and rap veterans Mobb Deep to G-Unit Records. Spider Loc, M.O.P., 40 Glocc and Young Hot Rod later joined the label.^[45][46] Jackson expressed interest in working with rappers outside of G-Unit, such as Lil' Scrappy of BME, LL Cool J from Def Jam, Mase from Bad Boy, and Freeway of Roc-A-Fella, some of whom he recorded with.^[47] In September 2007, he released his third album Curtis, which was inspired by his life before Get Rich or Die Tryin'.^[48] It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 691,000 units in the first week,^[49] behind Kanye West's Graduation, whom he had a sales competition with, as both albums were released on the same day.

He confirmed on TRL on September 10, 2008 that his fourth studio album, Before I Self Destruct, will be "done and released in November".

On May 18, 2009, Jackson released a song entitled "Ok, You're Right". The song was produced by Dr. Dre and was included in Before I Self Destruct.

In Fall 2009, 50 Cent appeared in the new season of VH1's Behind The Music.

On September 3, 2009 months upon the release of his "Before I Self Destruct" album 50 Cent posted a video^[50] for the Soundkillers' Phoenix^[51] produced track "Flight 187" which introduced his mixtape, the 50th LAW, and was also featured as a bonus track on his iTunes release of Before I Self Destruct. The song ignited speculation that there was tension between rapper 50 Cent and Jay Z for Jackson's comments in the song.^[52]

2010–present[link]

In an interview with the British entertainment website ContactMusic, 50 Cent announced that he was working on a dance album named Black Magic. 50 Cent said he was inspired by the European nightclubs. "First they played hip-hop which suddenly changed to uptempo songs, known as Eurodance".^[53] He went on The Invitation Tour in the summer of 2010, in support of Before I Self Destruct album, and the then shelved Black Magic album. He "recorded 20 songs to a whole different album concept" before he put those to the side and did something different.^[54]

50 Cent revealed that he wanted his new album to have the same "aggression" as his debut record, Get Rich or Die Tryin'.^[55][56]

He later tweeted that the album was "80 percent done", and stated that fans can expect the album in the summer of 2011; however, the album has been delayed to 2012 at the earliest, due to tensions and disagreements at Interscope Records, Later 50 Cent said that he will release his album in November 2011^[8] and it has also been confirmed that "Black Magic" will not be the album's title.^[8] 50 Cent has already confirmed that Eminem will appear on the album, but he also confirmed that he has been working with new producers such as Boi-1da and Alex da Kid.^[57] Cardiak, who produced Lloyd Banks' “Start It Up”, also confirmed that he had produced a song for the upcoming album.^[58]

DJ Whoo Kid confirmed in an interview that 50 Cent was filming a new movie with Robert DeNiro in New Orleans.^[59]

50 Cent released the first song from his fifth studio album, titled "Outlaw", to the Internet on June 16, 2011.^[60]

The single was produced by Cardiak.

It was released to iTunes on July 19, 2011,^[61] although 50 Cent confirmed through his Twitter account that the song was not the album's first single.^[62]

50 Cent is set to release a book titled Playground.

Unlike his previous literary efforts — which focus on his life story and the rules of power — this time he's aiming at a teen audience with a semi-autobiographical novel about bullying. According to a statement from the book's publisher, the first-person novel is slated for release in January 2012 and will tell the story of a 13-year-old schoolyard bully "who finds redemption as he faces what he's done."^[63]

50 Cent has promised to deliver his fifth studio album album over the past few years, but the LP may be delayed until 2012. In a series of tweets, 50 Cent explained that him and his label Interscope Records aren’t on the same page on how to roll out the album and that he’s delaying its release until they see eye to eye.^[8]

50 Cent later suggested that his album will be releasing in November 2011, along with his headphone line SMS by 50.^[8]

50 Cent spoke to MTV in relation to the possibility of leaving Interscope Records. "I don't know," 50 told MTV News when asked if he would ink back with Interscope once his five-album deal was fulfilled. "It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in. And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether you still want to stay in that position or not."^[64]

On June 20, 2011, 50 Cent announced that he will release an LP titled Before I Self Destruct II. The announced sequel to his 2009 LP is suggested to be released after his fifth studio album.^[65]

On June 26, 2011, 50 Cent planned to shoot a music video for the lead single from his fifth studio album titled I'm On It.^[66] However, the music video never surfaced.^[67]

50 Cent spoke to Shade45 in relation guest appearances for his fifth studio album. "I did four songs in Detroit with Eminem. I did two with Just Blaze, a Boi-1da joint, and I did something with Alex da Kid. We made two that are definite singles and the other two are the kinds of records that we been making, more aimed at my core audience, more aggressive, more of a different kind of energy to it."^[68]

In September 2011, 50 Cent released a song titled "Street King Energy Track #7" in attempt to promote his charitable energy drink Street King.^[69]

On September 28, 2011, it was confirmed that 50 Cent is shooting a music video for his lead single from his fifth studio album titled "Girls Go Wild", which features Jeremih.^[70][71]

On October 26, 2011, 50 Cent announced that his fifth studio album will be released in December 2011.^[72] However, the album was delayed, and it was announced that the album will now be released on July 2, 2012.^[73]

Other ventures[link]

Jackson has established himself in a variety of fields. In November 2003, he signed a five-year deal with Reebok to distribute a "G-Unit Sneakers" line as part of his G-Unit Clothing Company.^[74][75] He provided the voice-over as the protagonist in the video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof, which was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the PlayStation Portable.

Its sequel, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, was released in early 2009.^[76][77] He worked with Glacéau to create a vitamin water drink called Formula 50. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for US$4.1 billion. Forbes estimated Jackson, who owns a stake in the company, earned $100 million from the deal after taxes.^[78] He has teamed up with Right Guard to launch a body spray called Pure 50 RGX Body Spray and a condom line called Magic Stick Condoms,^[79] in which he planned to donate part of the proceeds to HIV awareness.^[80]

Jackson has signed a multi-year deal with Steiner Sports to sell his memorabilia.^[81]

In 2005, Jackson made a cameo appearance on The Simpsons episode "Pranksta Rap", in which he makes light of his legal troubles. The same year, he starred alongside Terrence Howard in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin'. He starred in the 2006 film Home of the Brave, as a soldier returning home from the Iraq War, traumatized after killing an Iraqi woman.^[82]

Jackson is working^[when?] on a role as a fighter in an Angola State Prison in Spectacular Regret alongside Nicolas Cage, and starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in 2008's Righteous Kill, a movie regarding a police death.^[83]

He also started the film production companies G-Unit Films in 2007 and Cheetah Vision in 2008.^[84][85]

In August 2007, Jackson announced plans to launch a dietary supplement company in conjunction with his movie Spectacular Regret.^[86]

50 Cent with Val Kilmer at the AMAs 2009

In August 2005, shortly before appearing in Get Rich or Die Tryin', Jackson published an autobiography entitled From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens. In it, Jackson explores the cultural and economic forces that led him to sell cocaine and crack, details his entrepreneurship as a drug-dealer and then as a rapper, and reflects on his own ethos and on society.

On January 4, 2007, Jackson launched his G-Unit Books imprint at the Time Warner Building.^[87] He also co-wrote The Ski Mask Way, a novel about a small-time drug dealer who attempts to rob his employers, which is to be turned into a film.^[80] Jackson said he read Robert Greene's The 33 Strategies of War and worked with the author on a book titled The 50th Law, an urban take on The 48 Laws of Power.^[80][88] In May 2008, Jackson met billionaire Patrice Motsepe to forge a joint venture selling 50 Cent-branded platinum.^[89]

In 2008, Jackson started a reality television show on MTV titled 50 Cent: The Money and the Power; the winning contestant, Ryan Mayberry, won a $100,000 investment from Jackson.^[90]

On September 8, 2009, he published his book The 50th Law.^[91]

In 2010, Jackson's film company Cheetah Vision landed $200 million in funding.^[92]

In July 2011, 50 Cent revealed his initiative to provide food for millions of people in Africa by 2016. 50 Cent teamed up with Pure Growth Partners to launch a charitable energy drink called Street King that will help aid in combating world hunger. For every purchase of Street King, a portion of the sales will go to providing a daily meal to an underprivileged child around the world. The partnership coincides with Fiddy’s mission statement of feeding a billion people in Africa over the next five years.

“50 Cent and I share a common vision: To address the world’s problems through smart and sustainable business models,” said Chris Clark, the founder and CEO of Pure Growth Partners. “With the rampant starvation in Africa and hunger afflicting children worldwide, we need socially responsible businesses that affect real change now more than ever.”

50 concurs, stating, “I’m inspired by Clarke’s vision and innovative approaches to tackling serious issues. It’s our mission with Street King to really change children’s lives around the world.”^[93][94]

Jackson founded SMS Audio, selling headphones with the name Street by 50. He has pledged to donate a portion of the sales to charity.^[95]

Personal life[link]

Jackson has a tattoo of "Marquise" with an axe on his right biceps. "The axe is 'cause I'm a warrior. I don't want him to be one, though,"^[34] he explains. He also has "50", "Southside", and "Cold World" inscribed on his back because "I'm a product of that environment. It's on my back, though, so it's all behind me."^[34]

Family[link]

On October 13, 1997, Jackson's then-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins gave birth to a son, Marquise Jackson.^[2][96]

The birth of his son changed Jackson's outlook on life: "When my son came into my life, my priorities changed, because I wanted to have the relationship with him, that I didn't have with my father."^[97] He credited his son for inspiring his career and being "motivation to go in a different direction".^[98]

Politics[link]

In 2005, Jackson expressed support for President George Walker Bush after rapper Kanye West criticized him for the slow response in assisting the Hurricane Katrina victims.^[99]

If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he claimed he would have voted for Bush.^[100] Jackson identifies with the Republican Party.^[101]

He later stated that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don't aspire to be like George Bush."^[102]

In response to Obama's endorsement of gay marriage, 50 cent said he also supports legalizing it.^[103]

Wealth[link]

In 2007, Jackson was the second wealthiest performer in the rap industry, behind Jay-Z.^[104] He resides in Farmington, Connecticut, in the former mansion of ex-boxer Mike Tyson.^[105] He is consistently ranked among the richest figures in the American hip hop scene. In 2011, Jackson was ranked the fifth richest figure in American hip hop with a net worth estimated at $100 million.^[106]

He put the mansion for sale at $18.5 million to move closer to his son who lives in Long Island with his ex-girlfriend.^[107] On October 12, 2007, the Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut declared it "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day". He was honored with a key to the city and an official proclamation.^[108]

One of his homes in New York purchased for 2.4 million dollars in January 2007 and at the center of a lawsuit between Jackson and ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins caught fire on May 30, 2008 while he was out of town filming for a movie in Louisiana.^[109]

In December 2008 Jackson told the Canadian press that he had been affected by the recession, losing several million dollars in the stock market as an investor. He also went on to say that he had been unable to sell his Connecticut mansion and pushed Before I Self-Destruct back because of the recent economic downturn.^[110]