Thursday, 24 November 2016

All Tommyrot Says Author of Book on Carnarvon and Carter

                    
              Luxor  in  the  days  following  the  discovery  of                                                 Tutankhamun's  Tomb

         Lady  Evelyn Herbert  in the  arms of  Howard Carter


The signs were there  early on in the historically inaccurate previews  that  there would be a  tardy and  tarnished  account  in the  2016  ITV series “ New Tutankhamun”,  all about  Lord   Carnarvon, Howard Carter and the discovery of the Tomb of  Tutankhamun in 1922. 

There was in the end a messy, muddled  four part story with the wrong   kind  of   costumes  and  digitised  sand dunes and  a  narrative  made up of a  jingle  jangle largely fixed  on  two women; one,  a  Miss Lewis,  a  member of the Metropolitan Museum Staff  and the other,  Lord Carnarvon’s daughter, Evelyn Herbert, each chasing the love interest of  Howard Carter.   
                                                        
All  TV bog-standard drama   treatments  need a ‘love’ interest to  keep the  old  romantic formula going  that  fictional  drama thrives  on for mugging  an attentive following. History, real life, real lives are  not always accommodating.  So the writer turns to making it all up or embellishing the  truth .

William Cross, Author of six books on the Carnarvons  comments:

“Such a scenario involving Lady Evelyn  is not an  ingenious plot  it is not a new angle on  the real story,  it  is an assertion that  has been made before – by  the Tutankhamun  authors  Thomas Hoving ( a man who blew the gaff on the whole story, declaring  Carnarvon and Carter tomb thieves, who looted  the tomb before it's declaration to the world)   and  H V ( Victor)  Winstone, one of Carter's two principal  biographers.  

It  is a fanciful suggestion at best  and  only entangles and dilutes the actual real history. 

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE  OF A  LOVE  AFFAIR  BETWEEN LADY EVELYN AND HOWARD CARTER.

Besides Carter was   homosexually  inclined - as I recorded in 2012 in my  book " Lordy! Tutankhamun's Patron As A Young Man"   ( and  mentioned  in an well timed outing  highlighted by The Daily Telegraph  Letters Page on 16 October, 2016)  moreover, medically  he  was not fit for purpose. A childhood hernia ( that  required  remedial care)  and abdominal surgery at the hands of the great  surgeon  Sir  Berkeley Monyihan, in 1921-2 left him scarred and damaged internally.   Ironically, as a boy Carter had to be bandaged like a mummy to keep his hernia in place.  ”

The  fictional characters ( bearing the names of real people from history)   in  the  ITV  series acted out the fictional scenario.  Cross remarks:

" The trouble was some people thought they were seeing the playing out of history. That is a horrific effect especially so close to the centenary of the discovery.

The series took  liberties with history and  mocked the historical figures.  Julian Fellowes  did something similar  in Downton  Abbey ( using  Highclere  Castle, the Herbert family seat and  period  history as a source ),  but at least Fellowes had the integrity to  create  FICTIONAL characters for  the story lines and only indirectly maligned  real people."

In the  ITV series the pleasantly  watchable  5- foot -6 inch  26- year- old  Amy Wren     played the  5 foot-0 inches   Lady Evelyn Herbert.  The dashing 30-year-old  actor Max Irons played Carter.

Cross  draws attention to the fact that  " In 1921  the real Lady Evelyn was aged 20, Carter was aged 45.  'It’s Tommyrot' ( one of Carter’s  favourite phrases), to insinuate anything  beyond a mutual affection and respect, something close  but  not  intimate  that had formed over the many years that Carter spent in and around the Carnarvon household.  Carter’s autistic nature made him awkward in all matters of relationships with women and men.  

Lady Evelyn Herbert  loved Lord Carnarvon,  the man she called ‘Pugs’, the man she thought was her real father. "  A story hangs there as set out in several books by William Cross, FSA Scot.

Cross  adds ".. the reality makes a  surprising twist on all the fickle fiction.... 

Howard Carter loved his patron  Lord Carnarvon, afterall, they were ‘an item’."
      

More details of the interaction between Carnarvon, Carter and Lady Evelyn Herbert  and the ultimate  fate of each of them  can be found in a new and controversial book   " Carnarvon, Carter and Tutankhamun Revisited: The Hidden Truths and Doomed Relationships" by William Cross, FSA Scot.
                            


The above book is available directly from William Cross
 or via Amazon.