I was invited to the private view of the Discovering Tutankhamun exhibition at the Ashmolean, in Oxford. My cousin is an Egyptologist and Director of the Griffith Institute and invited me. And wow, what an honour! I found myself bumping shoulders with the great and good of the academia world including esteemed egyptologists from around the world, museum and gallery directors, CEOs, archeologists, professors, writers, actors and even a Lord. Discovering Tutankhamun, which is at the Ashmolean in Oxford until November 2, takes you on a breath-taking journey of the treasure-filled boy king’s tomb found by Howard Carter and Lord[…]
Egypt
Prince Fluffy Kareem: helping horses, donkeys and camels in the Pyramid area of Cairo, Egypt
I want to give a huge shout out to Prince Fluffy Kareem – aka PFK – an amazing charity that helps horses, camels and donkeys in the pyramid area of Cairo, Egypt.Their work is incredible, inspiring, tough, challenging, sad and life-changing. Norwegian horse lover, Marte, and Egyptian stable manager Sherif alongside Emma Thompson from the UK run the PFK stable with 13 horses, of which 11 are rescues. In addition to stabling rescues, PFK foster other working horses that need rest and treatment for various issues, run clinics where local horse owners bring their horses for treatment and have made three[…]
Riots Over British Gold At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics
It was an amazing Summer for Team GB at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Britain won 65 medals, of which 27 were gold. The British athletes left Rio on a high and there was huge congratulations all around on their success. Now imagine this is 1920, we’re at the Antwerp Olympics and the British Water polo team has just beaten Belgium to the gold medal. Instead of admitting defeat, being happy with a Silver and congratulating the British in the sporting spirit of the games, the Belgians have erupted and started a riot. Soldiers in full riot gear with bayonets and swords have entered the games to control[…]
Sailing down Egypt’s Nile
Egypt 2004Following in my grandfather’s footstepsMy grandfather grew up in the royal palace in Alexandria, Egypt so this trip was very poignant for me. Gordon, my grandfather, died at the age of 95 in 1991 and was an Olympic medal winner (Antwerp Games) and a decorated soldier. But it was his stories of growing up in Egypt that I remember the most.My great grandfather was an Admiral and naval adviser to the King of Egypt – Abbas II. He was also honoured with the title of Pasha in 1912. The family moved into the Royal Palace and my grandfather (we[…]