Mummified taxi driver to be exhibited

Mummified taxi driver to be exhibited NEWS

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The body of a 61 year old former taxi driver whose body was mummified in a scientific project may be exhibited in museums around the UK reports have claimed.

Former taxi driver, Alan Billis, has had his body mummified using 3,000 year old processes used in ancient Egypt to preserve the pharaohs. In a bizarre move his remains may be exhibited in UK museums to illustrate the scientific processes behind the project.

Billis, 61, already terminally ill with lung cancer, became interested in the mummification process after reading a report about a proposed Channel 4 programme concerning the topic. After discussing the idea with his wife and other family members he decided to donate his body after his death.

Billis, who called himself Tuten-Alan', died in January of this year and that it is when the scientific project got into full swing. Billis' corpse was immersed in a salt bath for more than a month and his skin was covered in oils. His body was then wrapped in linen and, after three months of drying, the process was judged to be complete.

Dr Stephen Buckley, from the University of York and archaeologist Dr Jo Fletcher used modern equipment to identify the materials to be used in the project, such as beeswax, oils and resins that were utilised by the ancient Egyptians.

When talking about the project before his death Billis said one of his prime motivations was his family, specifically his grandchildren. He apparently said perhaps this will give them an insight into what their granddad was like, I don't know. They'll most probably tell somebody at school that my grandad's a pharaoh. That's my legacy I suppose.

Billis' wife appeared to be at ease with her husband's decision as she said after the completion of the project that I'm the only woman in the country who's got a mummy for a husband.

The body of Mr Billis will be kept at the Sheffield Medico-legal Centre until the end of the year and it is hoped that it will be used for further study into mummification and decomposition. One of the scientific benefits may be the development of an alternative to formaldehyde in the preservation of tissue.

The progress of the scientific project was documented by Channel 4 in their programme Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret which was screened on Monday.

There are also suggestions that once the scientific team have completed their studies with regard to the body the mummified corpse of Billis will be exhibited in UK museums as a modern alternative to the ancient mummies we've been used to.

Here at BritEvents we think this would really be something worth seeing and we'll be sure to publish details of where the modern mummy' will be exhibited.