Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a household name in the UK having written numerous books and presented many documentaries about Ancient Rome and Greece. Books of My Life host Rupert Hawksley spoke to Beard about her early obsession with a frightening tale, her evolving appreciation of Jane Eyre and allegiance to Germaine Greer.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
