A reminder to those in the UK that I will be appearing on More4 this evening in ‘Ancient Autopsies’ with Prof Suzannah Lipscomb. I crop up, briefly, larking about in chariots about half way through to discuss possible causes of injury to the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. ... See MoreSee Less
Today I have a strange and bizarre tale to tell about the history and the mystery of one of my most treasured longbows. It ‘disappeared’ in 2020, during my move from the USA to Portugal. It has resurfaced this week in the Middle East.It is a very identifiable bow with distinguishing features, such as an upper limb with distinctive, undulating knobbly bits. Also the colouration of the nocks at either end is unique. This bow was made for me by my dear old friend Chris Boyton in 1995 for my film “Archery: Its History and Forms”. Sadly Chris died a few years ago. He is much missed.When our shipping cargo arrived in Portugal from the USA in 2020, everything was accounted for, apart from two of my longbows - this one and also a gorgeous recurved longbow, also made by Chris, for my tv series “Weapons That Made Britain”.This week I advertised another of my bows for sale - a horn Turkish-style bow by Lukas Novotny (Broken wrists from a horse-archery accident a couple of years ago mean that I can no longer manage its power). One of the people to enquire about the bow was a bowmaker from The United Arab Emirates.In his message he added “you might be intrigued to know that I am the owner of one of your old longbows”. He sent a photograph and there was no mistaking that this was my missing bow.It turned out that he had bought it on eBay where it was listed simply as ‘a longbow’ for $100 and it was shipped to him from the US, from where it had originally ‘disappeared’.Only subsequently did he realize that it was one of my bows. He told me that he was watching one of my tv documentaries and happened to have this bow on his lap at the time. He immediately recognized the various distinguishing features. If you know the bow - there is no mistaking it.He has subsequently sent me a video of him shooting the bow. I have to say that he shoots it beautifully, far better than I ever did, and I am now very happy that this beautiful bow has ended up in the hands of someone who really appreciates it and knows how to care for it.I wonder if there is anyone out there who knows what happened to my other longbow? Meanwhile here is video of Rashid shooting the bow. He was amused to learn that he is younger than the bow. ... See MoreSee Less
