Luxor4u

Starting next Sunday on itv here in the UK there is a new series starting about tutankamun, are any of you locals staring in it ?I remember watching one a few years ago and spotting L4u members such as keefy little Lee, etc

I don't think anyone in Luxor will know of this denisegr, it's all a very secretive place now I believe. The only people that tell people of Luxor anything are those that live out of the Country.

I remember that too, lots of vodka drunk at night in the old Bombay bet it brings back happy memories for Keefy and Little Lee.

Had a brillianf night watching it at Dr who's lovely home in Luxor, happy days

I thought the filming was in South Africa...at least the early part. I can't recall seeing any local news about film crews in Luxor.

The series is already attracting some criticism for postulating a romance between Carter and Lady Evelyn Herbert....a ludicrous suggestion on any number of grounds.

I understand the ITV program is not good.



IMO this is still the best program about Tutankhamun.

The Face of Tutankhamun, Christopher Frayling

I would not say at this stage that the programme is no good, just that it has been covered many times and to anyone who has visited Egypt before then the background and location settings do not look very authentic.

Bombay wrote:I understand the ITV program is not good.



IMO this is still the best program about Tutankhamun.

The Face of Tutankhamun, Christopher Frayling

Thank you Bombay. I hadn't seen that before and it's excellent.

I gives a good biography of Carter's life without embellishment and seems pretty accurate. Not surprising, with T.G.H.James as the historical advisor. His book "Howard Carter - The Path to Tutankhamun" is arguably the best you'll find on the man's career.

With apologies to denisegr, I hadn't remembered this thread when I started on in another section.

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Not having seen this ITV production, I can't comment as to whether it's "good". I suspect it will contain a number of historical inacurracies which will always make it difficult for me to enjoy (as I mentioned in another post). However, for anyone with little or no knowledge of the actual history (probably the majority of the audience), it might well be an enjoyable series, After all...the basic story is fascinating.

I caught the first episode of the current drama on Queen Victoria. That series butchers history to an alarming degree!

As long as no-one thinks the Tutankhamun programme is an accurate reflection of events, and accepts, as with any historical drama, that the writers will be allowed a degree of speculation, it may turn out to be a success....we'll have to see.

I feel ambivalent about these sort of TV programmes. On one hand, as an historian I get extremely irritated by historical inaccuracies and down right make believe, but on the other I think that if the programme sparks an interest then it's to the good. I'm sure many people have gone on to read factual books, visit museums, and even visit foreign countries because a TV programme was the start of a genuine interest. I hope so, at any rate.

I have to agree yildez it was when king Tuts treasure was exhibited in London back in the 1970s when I was a young child that sparked my life long fascination with Egypt allthough it did take another 30 years before I actually managed to visit and see it for myself. It did not disappoint and was well worth the wait

newcastle wrote:

Bombay wrote:I understand the ITV program is not good.



IMO this is still the best program about Tutankhamun.

The Face of Tutankhamun, Christopher Frayling

Thank you Bombay. I hadn't seen that before and it's excellent.

I gives a good biography of Carter's life without embellishment and seems pretty accurate. Not surprising, with T.G.H.James as the historical advisor. His book "Howard Carter - The Path to Tutankhamun" is arguably the best you'll find on the man's career.

Its a shame its such a poor quality on Youtube and the american version it was originally broadcast in 3 parts on the BBC it still crops up on there.


The Face of Tutankhamun by Christopher Frayling is also a book

As Bombay states Christopher Frayling'S work on Carter was quite good, but as history has moved on and some of the gloss has now been removed to reveal a few of the bones of this subject, I am a little surprised at the amount of research that has gone into this present day series, although not directly part of the Carter story, it certainly helps with the background 'hidden' understanding of life in Egypt at that time.

Although we have only seen one episode in this series, we learn that the character called Herbert Winlock refers to Carter's home at that early time as a 'cave', well in fact that was correct to a degree, being his toilet/shower room. After Carter lost his job with the Antiquities Service, Carter found 'employment' as a highly qualified 'finders fee' personality, as pointed out in a scene with Theodore Davis. We learn that Carter is referred to as a 'different breed', by his previous boss, Maspero. There is a mention that the Rothchilds visited Luxor at this early period, true, but as of yet another private collector of antiquities,.....J.P.Morgan has not been mentioned.

One really good scene, is that with Carter and 'God' as in the form of Flinders Petrie, at what was supposed to have been in the Ramasseum, being that Petrie's dig house was in fact one of the mud brick grain stores that we see there today, and where the great man slept at night. Although a brilliant archaeologist, when working in the field, he lead a very frugal existence, and expected his students to live likewise. While in the Middle East, he would often live on tin food only. At the end of a season he would often bury any remaining tin food in the desert sand, to be dug up the following season. Many people became his students for a while including the likes of T.E.Lawence and Carter, his written report on our central character here, is quite interesting and revealing.

I don't recall J P Morgan having any involvement with Carter*....and of course he was dead long before the tomb of Tutankhamun was unearthed.

However, it is interesting that his (along with many of his contemporaries) interest in Egypt took him to Kharga in April 1912....and he had , regretfully, to cancel his booking of his "owner's suite" on the Titanic's maiden voyage.

A bit of luck there!

* I'm disregarding the bizarre story that J P Morgan had purchased an ancient scroll looted by Carter/Carnarvon from Tut's tomb many years before its "discovery"...a scroll which had the power to destroy the Judeo-Christian religion! One of the many conspiracy theories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic ( forget the Twin Towers !) was that the British government, thinking that the scroll was amongst Morgan's priceless artifacts in his suite, had a hand in the disaster.

newcastle wrote:
* I'm disregarding the bizarre story that J P Morgan had purchased an ancient scroll looted by Carter/Carnarvon from Tut's tomb many years before its "discovery"...a scroll which had the power to destroy the Judeo-Christian religion! One of the many conspiracy theories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic ( forget the Twin Towers !) was that the British government, thinking that the scroll was amongst Morgan's priceless artifacts in his suite, had a hand in the disaster.

I see the forum resident sentinel has been at the cooking sherry, once again. . . . .

At least I denote obvious fiction as "bizarre".....rather than spouting it on here as 'secret knowledge' - known only to me and my MI6 cronies (ahem !) - as fact.

newcastle wrote:I don't recall J P Morgan having any involvement with Carter*....and of course he was dead long before the tomb of Tutankhamun was unearthed.

There is evidence to prove that J.P.Morgan did in fact take a Nile cruise just after the turn of the century. During this period the same said person was one of the founding fathers of The Metropolitan in New York, it was his vast wealth alone that furnished this institution in its early years with some of its greatest treasures.

As part two of this program points out, Carter was offered full time employment with The Met, evidently as curator of its Egyptian collection. The reason why he turned down the offer was because he made far more money selling very valuable pieces under the 'finders fee' system, and the Met was out-bidding every other collector. However, many of these items now in The Met were shipped illegally, as most are unique and therefore would never have been part of the system known as 'division', which came to an end in the 1920's.

newcastle wrote:At least I denote obvious fiction as "bizarre".....rather than spouting it on here as 'secret knowledge' - known only to me and my MI6 cronies (ahem !) - as fact.

When I first appeared on this site, a couple of people suggested that I should write a book about my time and life in Luxor, my answer to this, then as now is, I have no intention what so ever, and the reason why I have never given references to what I write here, is because I also have no intention in helping any one else to write 'their' book.

With regards to your remark 'secret knowledge', I think you might discover that certain senior members of this forum would tell you that all I am doing really, is repeating what I wrote some years ago now, when a similar program was first broadcast about Carter.

Unfortunately, junior members and other 'Johnny-come-lately' characters like yourself, missed this event, though I am sure you like others appreciate my good work here,........... .

A-Four wrote:

newcastle wrote:I don't recall J P Morgan having any involvement with Carter*....and of course he was dead long before the tomb of Tutankhamun was unearthed.

There is evidence to prove that J.P.Morgan did in fact take a Nile cruise just after the turn of the century. During this period the same said person was one of the founding fathers of The Metropolitan in New York, it was his vast wealth alone that furnished this institution in its early years with some of its greatest treasures.

As part two of this program points out, Carter was offered full time employment with The Met, evidently as curator of its Egyptian collection. The reason why he turned down the offer was because he made far more money selling very valuable pieces under the 'finders fee' system, and the Met was out-bidding every other collector. However, many of these items now in The Met were shipped illegally, as most are unique and therefore would never have been part of the system known as 'division', which came to an end in the 1920's.

Talk about "six degrees of separation"

I think I can claim a greater degree of association with Carter....having lain on his (alleged) bed in Carter House!

J P Morgan, like many of his millionaire associates, was an obsessive, if rather unknowledgeable, collector. He didn't really fancy spending time with the usual riff-raff in Cairo, Luxor & Aswan, much preferring to sail the Nile on his dahabaya, the "Khargeh".