“A British Man Achieves the Unthinkable: Becoming the First Person in 3,000 Years to Undergo the Same Mummification Process Used by Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs.”
Alan Billis, a 61-year-old taxi driver from Torquay in southwest England, died in January from lung cancer. Before he died, he volunteered to take part in a mummification experiment for television.
Making history: The late Alan Billis and his wife Janet, before he became the first man to be mummified Egyptian style for at least 3,000 years
“People have been leaving their bodies to science for years, and if people don’t volunteer for anything nothing gets found out,” Mr Billis says in the documentary, which will be screened in Britain on October 24.
“If it doesn’t work it’s not the end of the world, is it? Don’t make any difference to me, I’m not going to feel it. It’s still bloody interesting.”
Mummified: Alan Billis becomes the first person to undergo the procedure performed here by Maxine Coe and Tim
A team led by leading forensic pathologist Professor Peter Vanezis removed all of Mr Billis’ organs except his heart and brain, and left his body in a bath of special salts for a month, according to Channel 4 television.
Television viewers will see on Channel 4 how the former taxi driver was mummified
The body was dried out in a special chamber at Sheffield’s Medico Legal Centre in northern England, and then wrapped with linen bandages to allow the drying to continue, to keep his limbs intact and keep out light and insects.
They used a process developed by Dr Stephen Buckley, a chemist and research fellow from nearby York University, who has been studying the mummification process for almost 20 years.
The mummy: Dr Stephen Buckley with mummified Mr Billis
He has focused his research on ancient Egypt’s 18th dynasty, which produced the best preserved mummies, including the body of Tutankhamun, who died in 1323 BC.
One of Dr Buckley’s key discoveries was that, contrary to popular belief, the mummies did not have their brain removed through their nose.
Before Mr Billis, Dr Buckley had experimented with the mummification process on the legs of pigs, which have very similar tissue to human flesh, and even transformed his shed to replicate the desert conditions in Egypt.
The experts: Professor Vanezis, Dr Buckley, Dr Fletcher and Maxine Coe with a mummified Alan Billis before them
After the researchers bandaged Mr Billis’ body, his widow Jan made a farewell visit, leaving some photographs and drawings by his grandchildren with him.
The process took three months and has been hailed a success by a number of expert scientists.
The mummified remains of Rameses III are on display at the Cairo Museum in Egypt
“The skin itself has this leathery appearance which indicates that he has become mummified all over,” said Prof Vanezis.
Dr Buckley added: “I think he’s on the road to looking very much like the best of the best of the 18th dynasty in 3000 years’ time.”
