Driven by ambition and greed; or in quest of prestige and glory; or searching for a unique brand of personal fulfilment.
1 - Tebuk 2 - Medain Salih 3 - Al'Ula 4 - Teyma 5 - Yah'il 6 - Kheybar 7 - Buraydah 8 - Aneyza 9 - Khubbera 10 - Ayn ez-Zeyma 11 - Al Ta'if 12 - Jiddah and his remarkable journey through Arabia in 1876

Written by David Howarth. Introduced by David Attenborough from the Royal Geographical Society

It was a lunatic idea. Dressed as an Arab while boasting he was a Christian there was little hope for him. The fierce nomads of the desert would surely kill Charles Doughty on sight. But this strange and intense Englishman was determined to try to reach the Holy City of Mecca, religious capital of the Moslem Empire. His journey was a catalogue of appalling suffering. Many times he nearly perished. Years later Lawrence of Arabia was to report that since his journey Doughty had become something of a Bedouin legend. The Arabs told tales of him. He had become history in the desert.