ANUBIS & MATT

Napoleon gave up the spoils of his failed Egyptian campaign to Nelson. When it set shore in England this ballast of priceless artefacts threw the country into Egypt-mania. This was the England of Herbert Ingram, founder of The Illustrated London News. Half a century later Herbert’s son Walter returned home from Somaliland to a people still in thrall to all things Egyptian. He had found the mummy of Queen Nesmin. Opening the case in the paper’s offices revealed an inscription, ‘May the person who unwraps me die rapidly’. And so he did, trampled to death by a rogue elephant. Walter’s nephew, Bruce took over as Editor of the ILN and, for 7 years, he reported in minute detail Howard Carter’s discovery and excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb. The apparent ‘curse of the mummy’ lived on and Lord Carnarvon, patron of the expedition, died from blood poisoning. Howard Carter died of natural causes at 64, to the delight of ‘curse’ sceptics. This anubis was a given by Carter to Bruce, who bequeathed it to his nephew Michael, who, in turn, gave it to his grandson Matt. They have all lived curse-free lives, giving weight to the theory that there are as many pyramidiots as there are Egyptologists.

20 May 2013