“The Nile is Egypt” – Herodotus
Starting with a look at the Nile from six million years ago to the recent Aswan Dam; some burial customs and beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians leading to the concept of a pyramid will then examined.
In the Old Kingdom, a period of about a hundred years will be looked at which was unsurpassed in the development of tombs from the Mastaba to the perfect pyramid as exemplified by the Great Pyramid of Giza. A recent hypotheses as to what has yet to be found in the Great Pyramid will be outlined.
After the break. there will be a detailed look at the organization and effort needed to build a pyramid and some of the many suggestions as to how the actual building may have been accomplished.
Stuart Baldwin was born within a mile of this Spring Lodge in 1930, so he thinks of himself as a local lad. Evacuated to Oxfordshire during the war he attended Witney Grammar School for five years. A five year apprenticeship with Crompton Parkinsons of Chelmsford followed, then National Service in REME. After four years training in Bristol he qualified as a pharmacist and spent seven years as a medical representative with Burroughs Wellcome in London. The next 15 years were spent marketing computers with IBM. He was seconded to the London Enterprise Agency as the small firms advisor for two years and for the next seventeen years he lectured part-time at London University on small business start-ups.
In parallel with this, his book and fossil-collecting hobbies were converted into businesses in 1959 – manufacturing fossil replicas and dealing in secondhand books. Fossil Hall in Silver End then became his base where a third business was added in the form of a Museum of Palaeontology & Zoology.
He is a Guinness World Record holder.
With a partner he continues to operate the book business from home and has recently taken an interest in Egyptology. He is a Friend of the Petrie Museum and a member of the Egypt Exploration Society.