The Valley of the Kings
Most tourists sweat their way to the centre of the Valley of the Kings, trudge into the regulation three tombs (or collapse exhausted in the shade of the rest station) and then depart. I have explored every corner of the Valley and photographed every tomb, even though I have only been inside a dozen or so.
In this lecture I tell the story of how the Valley came to be chosen and the theology behind it. Then I tell the stories of the tombs - the sad secret of the "Gold Tomb", the chair that belonged to an ancient queen and was last sat in by a modern empress - and track down Belzoni's reconstruction of Seti I. Finally I take you down the sloping corridors of the tomb of Rameses III.
Running time: 85 mins.