'I needed to find the truth' – Bradley Walsh on Egypt’s Cosmic Code
The pyramids have fascinated Bradley Walsh from an early age. Follow his journey to discover the truth behind them in Bradley Walsh: Egypt's Cosmic Code.
Image: Bradley Walsh is joined on his adventure by several experts, including Dr Meredith Brand | Bradley Walsh: Egypt's Cosmic Code
Bradley Walsh has many titles – former footballer, actor, beloved gameshow host and singer. But one thing missing from that list that might surprise you is ‘pyramidologist’.
In Bradley Walsh: Egypt’s Cosmic Code, he travels to Egypt to unpack the mysteries of the pyramids. For centuries, these spectacular structures have fascinated and puzzled experts and sparked endless debate about how they were built.
Discover Bradley’s own theories and conclusions by watching his brand new series on Sky HISTORY from Tuesday, 18th May. In this interview, he reveals his secret lifelong passion and personal motivations behind the series.
A lifelong passion
As Bradley explains, his fascination with the pyramids began at an early age. It started at 12, with a school teacher who was the great-niece of Howard Carter. Carter was the famous archaeologist and Egyptologist who first discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
'She used to talk about the pyramids and Howard Carter. I became fascinated by that and its air of mystery. Then films like Raiders of the Lost Art and King Solomon's Mines came along and just fuelled it further. So, I've always been very interested in this area.'
But it wouldn’t be for over another 50 years before Bradley finally visited Egypt and got to see the pyramids for the first time as part of his new Sky HISTORY series.
'It was incredible being there,' he enthuses. 'When we first pulled up in the Jeep and everyone said to me, "Brad, don't look at the pyramid." It felt a bit like Steven Spielberg, if I look, I'm going to turn into a snake or something!'
His motivation behind the series
Over the centuries, there have been countless theories as to how the pyramids were built – from the plausible to outright bizarre. Beyond his early interest, Bradley’s motivation for travelling to Egypt was simple – he wanted to try and uncover the truth.
'I'd heard this rumour that the pyramids weren't built by Ancient Egyptians at all. And in fact, they were built by a race that had either died out prior to 4,500 years ago, or they were built by someone or something else.'
Coming from an engineering background, Bradley was doubtful that an ancient civilisation would ever have had the resources or capabilities needed to build such a complex structure.
'I thought the Ancient Egyptians couldn't have built them. When you imagine Khufu’s reign was really for only around 27 years, in those 27 years, there's only about 12 hours of daylight. So if you do the number crunching, it doesn’t make sense. They’re moving a block of limestone the size of a BMW 5 Series. They've got to lay those every two and a half minutes to build what they did in the time they had.'
Bradley is far from the only person to be baffled by the origins of the pyramids – but he stresses that it’s healthy scepticism rather than conspiracy theories that form his views.
'People say I'm a conspiracy theorist. I'm not. All I did was say it could be this, and I needed to find out what is the truth.'
A different perspective
Aided by experts Dr Meredith Brand, Dr Arto Belekdanian,and Tony McMahon, Bradley’s views soon started to change after gaining unparalleled access to the inner chambers of the pyramids and tombs.
'When you hear people talk about the accuracy of the building of the pyramids, dimension-wise, of course it sounds incredible. But internally, the way they've been put up is not as precise as you imagine. The outer skin, the sides, were very fine and smooth, but if you take that skin off it's very higgledy-piggledy.'
'Once you are there, you then realise it's very difficult to take on board that anyone else other than the Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids.'
The journey was one of discovery for Bradley, who also visited the temples of Luxor – an experience he describes as 'breathtaking'. But it was being inside the pyramids themselves that left the biggest impression.
'It was extraordinary. It was not just extraordinary; it was awe-inspiring - I was six inches from Tutankhamun!'
Bradley’s adventure
Bradley’s passion for the subject is clear throughout the series, and he hopes that Egypt’s Cosmic Code will inspire viewers to seek out the truth for themselves.
As he puts it, 'You can go online and get a load of speculative information from people that have never been there…well, if you are interested in the pyramids, hopefully you’ll watch this and go and see it for yourself.'
Rather than relying on second-hand theories, he encourages people to explore history with an open mind. 'It certainly broadens the mind,' he concludes, 'but also narrows it to a certain extent in that you can see all the real information laid out before you.'
Excited for Bradley Walsh: Egypt’s Comic Code? Don’t miss a moment – sign up for our newsletter to follow Bradley’s adventures and stay updated on all your favourite shows on Sky HISTORY!
