Taunton Literary Festival 2023
in conjunction with
the Egyptian Society Taunton​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
presents
"The Earl and the Pharaoh"
by Lady Fiona Carnarvon, 8th Countess of Carnarvon
Saturday November 18th November 2023, 2 p.m.
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The life, wealth and sudden death of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon became world news after his discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamen with Howard Carter.
This lecture by Fiona, 8th Countess of Carnarvon, draws on the never-before-seen archives of the Earl's beloved home,
Highclere Castle (known to millions as the setting for Downtown Abbey).
Her new book, The Earl and the Pharaoh, chronicles the twists and turns of fortune and tragedy that shaped Carnarvon's life;
his restless and inquisitive mind, the spirit that drove him to travel to escape the conventional social life of Edwardian Britain.
Lady Carnarvon, who lives at Highclere Castle, is a historian and public speaker and has written the New York Times bestsellers
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey and Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey, among many others.
The Egyptian Society Taunton invites you to join us in person or online for this special celebration lecture, in conjunction
with the annual Taunton Literary Festival.
Those interested will be able to attend this event either in person at:
St James Church, St James Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1JS
or online via the Zoom platform.
Pricing for Tickets and Zoom Access:
Egyptian Society Taunton Members
Tickets: The cost to attend in-person is £7.00 per person
Zoom: the cost to attend online is £6.00
Non-Members
Tickets: The cost to attend in person is £10.00
Zoom: the cost to attend online is £6.00.
Numbers will be limited so if you wish to register interest in attending this event, please contact:
egyptiansoctaunton@gmail.com
or Janet Diamond on: 01823 326 604
- or unearthingegyptology@gmail.comemail us via egyptsoctaunton@gmail.com
(or use the Contact Us page).
Please include your name, address (if attending in person), the number of tickets you require (again if attending in person)
and your email address. We will confirm the availability of tickets and provide details on how to pay.
Those attending in person will receive their tickets by post, on receipt of payment and a SAE or MEMBERS can collect them
at the September or October meetings.
Those choosing to attend online will receive the Zoom link a week before the event.
Taunton Literary Festival 2022
in conjunction with
the Egyptian Society Taunton​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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​We are pleased to announce a Special Event celebrating the centennial anniversary of the opening of the Tomb of Tutankhamun
November the 26th 2022
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​Professor Toby Wilkinson will present a special lecture "Tutankhamun's Trumpet" on 26 November 2022,
exactly 100 years to the momentous day on which Howard Carter broke the seals on the tomb of Tutankhamun,
based on Toby's new book of the same title.
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In Tutankhamun’s Trumpet, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes a unique approach to a well-worn subject.
Instead of concentrating on the oft-told story of the discovery, or speculating on the (brief) life and (fractious) times of the boy-king, Wilkinson takes the objects buried with the king as the source material for a wide-ranging, detailed portrait of ancient Egypt
– its geography, history, culture and legacy. One hundred artefacts from the tomb, arranged in ten thematic groups, are allowed to speak again – not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them. Never before have the treasures
of Tutankhamun been analyzed and presented for what they can tell us about ancient Egyptian culture, its extraordinary development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact.
Professor Toby Wilkinson first became interested in Egyptology at the age of five. He studied Egyptology at the University
of Cambridge, graduating with a First Class Honours degree and winning the University’s Thomas Mulvey Prize. After completing
his doctoral research at Christ’s College, Cambridge, he was elected to the college’s prestigious Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellowship in Egyptology, which he held from 1993 to 1997. Following two years as a Leverhulme Special Research Fellow at the University of Durham, Toby Wilkinson returned to Cambridge in 1999. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge from 2003
to 2017, and has been a Bye-Fellow of the College since 2018.
An acknowledged expert on ancient Egyptian civilisation and one of the leading Egyptologists of his generation, Toby Wilkinson has given lectures around the world and his international reputation has led to invitations to contribute to other major collaborative projects. He has excavated at the Egyptian sites of Buto and Memphis. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Egyptian History and has broadcast on radio and television in the UK and abroad. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society, and the prize-winning author of twelve books which have been translated into twelve languages.
Egyptian Society Taunton invites you to join us in person or online for this special celebration lecture, in association with the annual Taunton Literary Festival.
Those interested will be able to attend this event either in person at:
St James Church, St James Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1JS
or online via the Zoom platform.
Pricing for Tickets and Zoom Access:
Egyptian Society Taunton Members
Tickets: The cost to attend in-person is £7.00 per person.
Zoom: The cost to attend online via Zoom will be included in the cost of the Egyptian Society Taunton’s ZOOM-ONLY Membership Subscription.
For MEMBERS who wish to attend this event but have not paid the ZOOM-ONLY subscription, the cost will be £6.00
Non-Members
Tickets: The cost to attend in person is £10.00.
Zoom: the cost to attend online is £6.00.
Payment: This can be made in person at our September or October meetings, by cheque, bank transfer or Paypal.
Numbers will be limited so if you wish to register interest in attending this event, please email us via egyptsoctaunton@gmail.com
(or use the Contact Us page).
Please include your name, address (if attending in person), the number of tickets you require (again if attending in person) and your email address. We will confirm the availability of tickets and provide details on how to pay.
Those attending in person will receive their tickets by post, on receipt of payment and a SAE or MEMBERS can collect them at the September or October meetings.
Those choosing to attend online will receive the Zoom link a week before the event.
Taunton Literary Festival 2019
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Sethy I, King of Egypt : His Life and Afterlife
Prof. Aidan Dodson, Bristol University​​
Saturday 23 November 2019, 2 p.m.
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The lecture will be hosted by the Egyptian Society Taunton
in conjunction with the Taunton Literary Festival, organised and marketed by Brendon Books, Taunton’s independent bookseller
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​Venue: St James' Church, St James Street, Taunton TA1 1JS
Taunton Literary Festival 2018
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2.00 PM Saturday 10 November
Dr Chris Naunton : "Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt"
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Venue: The Castle School, Wellington Rd, Taunton TA1 5AU
An Egyptian Society Taunton event in association with the Taunton Literary Festival
An exciting archeological exploration of ancient Egypt that examines the potential for discovering the remaining “lost”
tombs of the pharaohs.
Egypt has provided the world with some of the most sensational archaeological discoveries, from Tutankhamun, to the
‘Royal Cache’ the secret reburial of the mummies of pharaohs like Ramesses the Great. You might think that there couldn’t
possibly be any more discoveries like this, that archaeologists have surely found everything there is to find? This is not
the case. Large areas of even the most famous archaeological sites like the Valley of the Kings, Saqqara, Alexandria remain
unexplored and the tombs of such ancient celebrities as Imhotep, Nefertiti, Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, have yet to
be found.
Dr Chris Naunton is an Egyptologist, writer, broadcaster and public speaker. He frequently appears on television and
radio, notably as the presenter of The Man Who Discovered Egypt (BBC4, 2012), Tutankhamun: The Mystery of the Burnt
Mummy (Channel 4, 2013), and King Tut’s Treasures (Channel 5, 2018).
Chris worked for many years at the Egypt Exploration Society, as its Director from 2012 to 2016, and in 2015 he was
elected President of the International Association of Egyptologists. In 2016 he became Director of the Robert Anderson
Trust, a charity which provides support for young scholars visiting London to further their studies and research.
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The cost of the ticket is £10 but if booked through EST it is discounted to £8.00
On Saturday the 11th November 2017
Professor Joann Fletcher, University of York,
was in Taunton talking about her book ‘The Story of Egypt’
which accompanied her recent BBC2 series ‘Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher’.
In this fresh look at ancient Egypt, Joann presented the story of one of the world’s most iconic civilizations. Beginning with the evidence for the earliest Egyptians almost 20,000 years ago, their evolving saga was set against a backdrop of spectacular sites and dramatic events, all put into context using a wealth of fascinating detail based on new discoveries. From Egypt's oldest art to the beginnings of mummification almost two thousand years earlier than previously thought, Joann also discussed some of the women who became pharaoh, evidence that the Egyptians built the first Suez Canal, circumnavigated Africa and won victories at the original Olympic games. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his greying hair to the fact that Montuhotep's wife bit her nails and the farmer Baki liked eating in bed, Joann’s approach brought alive the history and people of ancient Egypt. As she says herself,
“I wanted to present my own take on a culture which has literally dominated most of my life. It’s taken years to pull everything together to cover such a massive time span, but only then was it possible to see how Egypt's unique culture actually developed and went on to have such an impact on the modern world”.
With much of the research for the book undertaken in Egypt, which Jo first visited back in 1981 and has excavated at various sites since, some of the discoveries were also made in the museums of Turin, Cairo, and rather closer to home in Harrogate, Barnsley and Wigan where she works as archaeology advisor alongside her role as Visiting Professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. Her previous publications include ‘The Search for Nefertiti’ and ‘Cleopatra the Great’ (both Hodder & Stoughton), with regular contributions to the BBC's History Magazine and website. Yet she is most familiar from her television appearances, from ‘Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings’, ‘Egypt's Lost Queens’ and ‘Immortal Egypt’ on BBC2, to the BAFTA-winning ‘Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret’.
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The lecture was hosted by the Egyptian Society Taunton
as part of the Taunton Literary Festival, organised and marketed by Brendon Books, Taunton’s independent bookseller
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https://www.tauntonliteraryfestival.net/index.html
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Venue: St James St, Taunton TA1 1JS