Hugh Boustead Colonel Sir John Edmond Hugh Boustead , KBE , CMG , DSO , MC & Bar ( 14 April 1895 – 3 April 1980 ) , was a British military officer , modern pentathlete , and diplomat who served in numerous posts across several Middle Eastern countries , including ambassador to Abu Dhabi from 1961 to 1965 . The son of a tea planter from Sri Lanka , Boustead began his career with the Royal Navy , but soon joined the British Army to fight in the trenches during World War I , where he earned his first of two Military Cross es . Following an appearance at the 1920 Summer Olympics , Boustead spent several years as a mountaineer and explorer prior to being appointed commander of the Sudan Camel Corps , with whom he served through World War II . He then embarked on a diplomatic career until his 1965 retirement and published an autobiography , " The Wind of Morning " , in 1971 , nine years prior to his death in Dubai . Early life . Boustead was born on 14 April 1895 in Nuwara Eliya , Sri Lanka , the son of a local tea planter who later became a director of The Imperial Ethiopian Rubber Company . He was educated at the Cheam School and attended Britannia Royal Naval College ( then Royal Naval College , Dartmouth ) prior to the onset of World War I , where he began the conflict as a midshipman in the Royal Navy , having attained that rank on 15 January 1913 . On 15 May 1915 he was promoted to acting Sub - Lieutenant , but deserted this post one month later while on leave in Simon ' s Town to engage in trench warfare as a member of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment from South Africa . He earned a Military Cross at the Battle of Arras , which was gazetted on 26 July 1917 with the citation : Boustead received the honour from George V of the United Kingdom on 15 August 1917 and transferred to the British Indian Army ten days later . He was promoted to lieutenant on 6 August 1918 . He returned to the South African Army on 30 September 1918 . A Bar to the MC followed , for actions on 25 August 1919 at Kardel , fighting alongside the Cossacks against the Bolshevik Red Army . The citation was gazetted on 23 April 1920 and read : At this time he was officially an " Instr [ uctor ] , Physical Training " with the infantry . His gallantry eventually led to the pardoning of his earlier desertion . Career . A boxing champion in the lightweight division during his service with the British army , Boustead was recruited to captain the British team in the modern pentathlon at the 1920 Summer Olympics . He finished joint 14th in a field of 23 competitors in his only Olympic appearance . He then continued his military career and , after transferring to the Gordon Highlanders , he was seconded from them to serve in Sudan beginning 19 November 1924 . A seasoned explorer , he participated in both the 1926 British expedition to Kangchenjunga and the 1933 expedition to Mount Everest , organized his own mountaineering expedition in Sikkim , explored the Libyan desert with Ralph Alger Bagnold in 1932 , and traversed the wastes of Greenland . Boustead was promoted to the rank of captain on 1 March 1927 and served as a General Staff Officer , Third Grade from 22 July 1929 to 26 November 1930 . He was promoted to local major on 3 February 1931 , a secondment that culminated in his appointment as commander of the Sudan Camel Corps later that year . He was then promoted to local lieutenant colonel on 17 October 1931 and awarded a brevet majority on 1 January 1933 . He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1934 King ' s Birthday Honours . His secondment ended on 19 November 1934 and he returned to regimental duty with the Gordons in his substantive rank of captain . He retired in April 1935 to begin a career with the Sudan Political Service and spent five years as District Commissioner in Darfur . Boustead rejoined the military following the onset of World War II to raise , train , and command the Sudanese Frontier Force . As a local Lieutenant - Colonel and commander of its Camel Corps he led some of the units that helped restore Emperor Haile Selassie I to the throne of Ethiopia in 1941 . For his actions in this conflict , he was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order by Orde Wingate on 15 August 1941 , which he received on 30 December 1941 , being Mentioned in Despatches on the same date . His World War II service officially ended on 7 December 1946 and the honorary rank of Colonel was bestowned upon him . After the conflict Boustead served as a diplomat in several Middle Eastern countries including Sudan , Yemen , and Oman , prior to spending nine years ( 1949 - 1958 ) as a Resident Adviser in the Aden Protectorate . His next post was the then - Sultanate of Muscat and Oman , where held the position of Development Secretary . He was appointed political agent ( then equivalent to ambassador ) of Abu Dhabi in 1961 , a post that he held until 1965 . He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours that year , and presented with the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs . Later life . Following his 1965 retirement Boustead went on a lecture tour in the United States and eventually settled down in Dubai , where he was asked by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan to oversee his stable of horses in Al Ain . In 1971 he published his autobiography , " The Wind of Morning " , which was well received . In addition to his knighthood , DSO , and receiving the Military Cross and Bar , he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1954 Queen ' s Birthday Honours and awarded the St George ' s Military Medal with 1 Palm by Haile Selassie . He died on 3 April 1980 in Dubai at the age of 84 , having never married . At Boustead ' s death , British MP Richard Luce claimed that no one had a greater impact in " cement [ ing ] relations between the British and the Arabs " as Boustead .