When a woman in Canada refused to return a valuable statue to the Cairo Museum, Dr Zahi Hawass, who was handling the negotiation, casually mentioned a curse said to be associated with the artifact. The next day the statue duly arrived at the Egyptian embassy in Canada. The fear of the Pharaohs’ curse has long been the stuff of fiction and films. It is a subject that has stirred public imagination. There are those who believe that the pharaohs placed a curse on whoever disturbed their place of eternal rest. When Lord Carnavon died on 5 April 1923, barely six...