A series of seven programmes Cleopatra's Needles
Narrated by RENÉ CUTFORTH
Cleopatra's Needle finally came to rest on the Thames Embankment 100 years ago. Presented to the British Nation in 1819 by the Viceroy of Egypt, Muhammed Ali (no relation), it took 50 years to get here. In the process, six men were drowned and the needle temporarily abandoned in a storin in the Bay of Biscay.
Needles exist throughout the world: New York, Paris, Rome, Istanbul. And only five are left in Egypt.
But why were they built? What is the significance of their shape? What do the hieroglyphs on their sides say? And why, for 2,000 years, has every aspiring empire felt the need to possess one as some kind of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval?
Chronicle tells the story of their erection in the service of the Egyptian sun god and their removal by pharaohs, emperors, popes and Victorian engineers.
Film cameraman JOHN ELSE Film editor JESSE PALMER Producer PAUL JORDAN Editor BRUCE NORMAN