The Treasures of Tutankhamun

[mrs_emma_peel]

The Treasures of Tutankhamun
BBC4 ... Tuesday 24th July 2012 ... 11.00-11.50pm

An incredibly rare showing from the BBC archives of a classic 1972 Magnus Magnusson presented documentary on the Egyptian King Tutankahmun's celebrated exhibition in the British Museum in 1972.

A gem of a programme worth watching, not just for the stunning golden Tutankahmun display, but also, for listening to a true inspirational master of his craft - the wonderful Magnus Magnusson.
Emma

[Heinrich]

I understand that several people who watched this show when it was first broadcast died in mysterious circumstances.

[alan french]

Hi,
I remeber queuing up to see the exhibition at the British Museum in 1972. Very interesting.

Alan French.

[billy farmer]

Emma, that does sound like a very interesting Documentary, and one that i am sure i have never seen before, i have seen programmes about the Curse of Tutankhamun, i think it would have been better if Howard Carter and the rest of his excavation group had not entered Tutankhamun's Tomb in 1922.

[Tonch]

Hi,
I remeber queuing up to see the exhibition at the British Museum in 1972. Very interesting.

Alan French.

I was there too Alan. Were you the one who trod on my foot?

When we got in we raced around the exhibits, which I seem to recall being numbered in sequence, the final piece being the famous "death mask"



By the time we reached it there were already people several deep milling around and dad had to lift me and my younger brother up in turn to get a good view over all the heads, the image is still now very clear in my memory. We then returned to the earlier items and perused them at leisure, reading the information cards etc. The big bed seems to stick in my mind, with animal head shaped bedknobs. Anyway, by the time we arrived "officially" at the mask the crush of people was intense and the crowd enormous, that's when I realised how wise dad had been to whisk us to the end at the beginning, if you see what I mean!

As an aside I wonder if anyone can answer something for me... on that trip to London in '72 we also took in the zoo and I remember seeing Guy the gorilla. I can't for the life of me remember if I saw any pandas though, and my parents and brother can't recall either. Was Chi Chi still around then?

Sorry to digress.

Anyway... thanks to mrs peel for the heads up, I'm looking forward to the programme

[alan french]

Hi,
I do not recall treading on anyone's foot. But if I did and knew it was yours, I would have trod on someone else instead. (Hang on that does not make sense. Or does it?)

But, yes. It was a very good exhibition.

I have seen Pandas in London Zoo. But I do not know what year. Sorry.

Alan French.

[mrs_emma_peel]

My pleasure Tonch, Billy, Alan ... what a terrific picture Tonch
Emma

[alan french]

Hi,
Billy. You may be right. But who can say? I did read recently somewhere that the curse may not be as supernatural as some people might imagine. There was a theory or cicumstantial evidence, that Aiden Cowley may have had something to do with some mysterious deaths in the wake of the discovery. And murder cannot be ruled out. Who can say?

For my part, I must admit that I am not sure whether Howard Carter was being disrepectful or not. After all, his expedition was penetrating a resting place of someone; who like us now; was then; a flesh and blood living human being. But never-the-less, the exhibition was fascinating. But I looked upon the artifacts with both interest and respect.

Alan French.

[Robin Davies]

If the pharaohs wanted immortality then it could be argued that the egyptologists have given them something like it.
However, as Woody Allen said "I don't want to gain immortality through my work. I want to gain immortality by not dying."

[billy farmer]

I can remember an episode of the TV series Strange But True (presented by Michael Aspel) which was all about the Curse of Tutankhamun, in the episode (first shown on ITV in 1997) it was stated that the fifth Earl's son (Lord Carnarvon's son) never went into Tutankhamun's Tomb and was reported as saying that he would not accept a million pounds to do so, it was also stated in the episode that the then current Lord Carnarvon (who was interviewed for the episode) has also stayed well away from the Tomb despite several invitation's, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, died on April 5th 1923, just over four months after Tutankhamun's Tomb was opened.

[Robin Davies]

If the curse was real then it wasn't very effective.
According to this page:
http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/tutcurse.html
the average survival rate following any involvement with the tomb was around 21 years!

[Steve Crook]

If the curse was real then it wasn't very effective.
According to this page:
http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/tutcurse.html
the average survival rate following any involvement with the tomb was around 21 years!

Well there was Howard Carter himself, who lived until he was 64 (30+ years after he discovered the tomb), and all the other people involved in the excavation who didn't die early.

A few, a very tiny few, of the people involved died before their time, and so "the legend of the curse" was born.
Of course, the other thing that conspiracy theorists neglect to mention was that there was no mention of the curse before Carnarvon died. Nothing at the tomb itself and no general legend

BBC4 are due to re-broadcast The Treasures of Tutankhamun tonight at 11pm

Steve

[billy farmer]

I watched The Treasures of Tutankhamun on Tuesday, and found it to be a very interesting Documentary, Magnus Magnusson was a very good presenter, and lots of interesting exhibits were featured in the programme, there was no mention of The Curse of Tutankhamun, the Documentary can be seen in 5 parts on YouTube.