T H E L A S T S U R V I V O R
Written by John Lawton
If you want my opinion," said Patricia West, a nurse at the home for disabled servicemen, "you're both nuts." By "both" she meant Richard Adamson - last survivor of the expedition that discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen 59 years ago - and myself.
Mrs. West had a point. For Adamson and I intended to return together to Egypt's Valley of the Kings to defy - and thereby prove - the legendary "curse" of the exhumed Pharaoh, which has allegedly claimed the lives of 40 people.
As the only survivor of the famous edition, Richard Adamson would obviously be tempting fate by returning to the tomb. But there were real hazards to be considered too; Adamson, 80 years old and
a diabetic, had recently lost both legs. To go to Luxor he would have to go in a wheelchair.
In addition to defying the "curse," I also hoped that in returning to the tomb after nearly 60 years Adamson might possibly recall some forgotten evidence in the current controversy surrounding the greatest archeological discovery in modern history. Did British archeologist Howard Carter wait for the official opening to enter the burial chamber
of Tutankhamen? Or did he, as is now claimed, break in secretly to satisfy his curiosity? And, on the way out, help himself to one or two of the tomb's treasures?
And finally - since 1981 was the United Nations' International Year of Disabled Persons - we hoped to prove that disability did not automatically bar the determined from making even the most difficult of journeys.
The return of the last survivor was the result of a short item in a weekly newspaper in Richmond, England, casually identifying Adamson as the last living survivor of the expedition that found Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922.
I was astounded - and skeptical. Particularly when a perusal of several King Tutankhamen books - including Carter's definitive work - showed no trace of any "Adamson?" He was not mentioned in any index. There was not a single photograph.
