Egypt in England
What can you tell our readers about your new book Egypt in England?
It's not just about bricks and mortar. There are some great stories in there about the people behind these Egyptian style structures, and why they built them. Like the Earl known as 'Black Jack', who eloped with his ward, who became his mistress, and is buried with her in an Ancient Egyptian style mausoleum.
How long have you been interested in Egyptian architecture?
For at least ten years, although that is really only part of what interests me, which is all the ways in which we have been influenced by Ancient Egypt. I started studying Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the inscriptions written in them, so that I could begin to read what the Egyptians had written, and hear what they had to say. That took me to Egypt to see the surviving monuments, and then it was natural for me to be interested when I came back and began to become aware of Egyptian style buildings in England.
Tell us about your decision to write this book.
I didn't actually start off writing a book. I was researching for an Egyptian London cultural history walk, and kept finding sites that were too far apart to walk between. Eventually the penny dropped and I thought there might be enough material for a book on London's connections with Egypt. In the course of discussions with English Heritage, the book that became 'Egypt in England' emerged.
How much do you extend this architecture to your own home?
I live in a Conservation Area, where the houses are largely Edwardian, so Egyptian architectural bling on the outside wouldn't be appropriate. Inside, there are a few holiday souvenirs, including a roughly A4 sized reproduction of the Rosetta Stone, but my real indulgence is an Egyptian themed King Tut pinball machine.
Do you have an interest in other aspects of Egypt?
Definitely. I started off with conventional Egyptology, and still read every issue of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology from cover to cover, but I gradually became interested in what you could call the afterlife of Ancient Egypt, how it influenced, and continues to influence, us and other cultures long after the last Pharaoh.
Tell us about your research process into this book.
My research was guided by a very simple principle. If there was a location, and a link to Egypt, it went into the database and I made notes on it, it didn't matter how minor the connection seemed. As the material built up, connections emerged with some surprising results. Also, right from the start, it was important to me that there was a physical location that people could go to. History is everywhere around us, but it is not always obvious, which is why it is so satisfying to make people aware of what happened on the streets they walk down every day.
How can people who are not well rehearsed in architecture and Egypt enjoy this book?
It is written to be accessible, and doesn't assume any special knowledge, so anyone who is interested in either Ancient Egypt or architecture can read and enjoy it. The topic essays are there to give readers the background to the key areas. There have to be some technical terms, but these should soon become familiar, and there are always the architectural glossary and the glossary of Egyptian gods and goddesses to refer back to.
Of all the buildings influenced by Egyptian design, which is your favourite?
Probably, if I had to choose one, the Carlton Cinema on Essex Road. It is Egyptian style architecture at its most colourful, accessible, and popular. Not a grand monument or architectural statement, but a working commercial building which brought some exotic glamour into people's lives. Outside London, I would probably have to pick The Egyptian House in Penzance. It is colourful, elaborately if not very accurately Egyptian, and completely over the top design-wise, with a royal coat of arms and an eagle on a pile of rocks stuck on the front of a mock Egyptian temple façade.
What is next for you?
Probably a historical detective fiction trilogy set in Victorian London, with an Egyptological background. Working title for the first one 'A Murder of Mummies'. After more than ten years of non-fiction, my wife wants me to go back to telling stories! I'm certainly not short of book ideas, so the next one will probably be whatever I can find a publisher for first.
Tell us about your background.
My father was a submariner in the Royal Navy, and that meant that before I was ten I had travelled halfway round the world and back, and spent part of my childhood in Australia. We then moved back to Sussex, where my mother's family ran a post office and general stores in a small village. I did a degree in Sheffield, and then moved to London, where I've been ever since. Like a number of other writers I have spent time in the Civil Service, and I also worked in the leisure software industry. I'm a third generation teacher on my mother's side of the family, so it was almost inevitable that I would become a teacher at some stage, which I did for a while, but I grew up with books, and I'm a complete book junkie, so I regard myself as a writer at heart who sometimes does other things.
Female First Lucy Walton