William de Rumpel

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And me, William de Rumpel.

Now, in the last episode, we saw the end of Akhenaten's dynasty with the death of the boy king Tutankhamen, who had no heirs.

Today, we bring you a special episode to wrap up the series we are discussing when everyone went crazy for Tut.

in the aftermath of the incredible 1922 discovery.

We are joined once again by the brilliant and wonderful, my compatriot, Dr. Campbell Price.

Hi, hi, hi.

Nice to be back.

And there's also the timing in terms of mass media.

After the First World War, you're getting things like photography, illustrated newspapers, radio, all that is beaming this stuff out, isn't it?

And it has a kind of global presence in a way that just wouldn't have done in the early years of the century.

Hieroglyphs covered?

I mean, what's the... I don't think there were hieroglyphs on them.

Why is it that it has so much more of an effect in popular culture than, I mean, around the same time you've got, you know, Woolly digging the royal tombs of Ur, and that's got some pretty good golden lapis too, but it doesn't have the same effect on popular culture that Tut does.

It's an extraordinary fact that, because we always associate him, you have the picture of Hal Carter beside the mask, and it's always assumed that he saw it, but he didn't.

He didn't.

That's what Anita calls E.T.

chic.

This also coincides not just with the sudden efflorescence of mass media, but there's also the very important political moment, isn't there?

Because in 1922, Egypt gets its independence.