Background
Albert Thomas Lamb was born in Britain on 23 October 1921, the son of R. S. Lamb and Violet Lamb (née Haynes).
Albert Thomas Lamb was born in Britain on 23 October 1921, the son of R. S. Lamb and Violet Lamb (née Haynes).
He was educated in Swansea at the Bishop Gore School.
He served as British ambassador to Kuwait from 1974 to 1977, and to Norway from 1978 to 1980. Lamb joined the Foreign Office in 1938. On the outbreak of World World War II in 1939 he volunteered for the Royal Air Force, but was not called for service until 1941.
He did pilot training in Southern Rhodesia.
On his way back to Britain in Steamship Oronsay his ship was torpedoed and he spent nine days in a lifeboat before being rescued. After the war Lamb returned to the Foreign Office and served at Rome, Genoa and Bucharest.
He then studied Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies 1955-1957 and subsequently served in Bahrain, as consul in Kuwait and as political agent in Abu Dhabi. He served at the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) 1965-1974, rising to assistant under-secretary, before being appointed ambassador to Kuwait 1974-1977 and to Norway 1978-1980.
Lamb found the Norwegian political establishment insular and unsympathetic to their North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners, who at the height of the Cold War, were concerned about Norway"s vulnerable border with the Soviet Union.
In his last diplomatic dispatch, Lamb says of the Norwegians "..you demand your allies" full support but restrict their ability to give lieutenant "All for Norway" is the Royal motto of the The King of Norway. lieutenant sums up the Norwegian interpretation of the North Atlantic Alliance".
After retiring from the Diplomatic Service, he became a director of the nationalised companies British National Oil Corporation (BNOC), later privatised as Britoil, and British Shipbuilders.