Photo Illustration by Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images/Photo12/Ann Ronan Picture Library
On an April evening in 1939, an estimated 150 million listeners from across the globe tuned in to a remarkable BBC radio broadcast that even now evokes wonder. "The trumpets of the pharaoh Tutankhamun!" booms the BBC announcer. A short intake of air and then — the blare of a trumpet which for more than 3,000 years had lain silent inside the boy-king's tomb. For the next minute, the military-like fanfare travels from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, out across the airwaves of the world.
The silver trumpet bears the king's cartouches. - Sandro Vannini/Laboratoriorosso
A haunting recording The radio broadcast very nearly didn't happen. During rehearsals, a modern mouthpiece was placed on the end of the silver trumpet to play it. When the trumpeter blew, the instrument shattered. Archaeologist Alfred Lucas, who was part of Howard Carter's team which excavated the tomb and present at the time, was reportedly hospitalized from the shock of it.
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