The Last Survivor," John Lawton, Aramaco World, pp 10-21 November/December 1981.

An article about Richard Adamson, who claimed to be the the guard of the Tomb although he was never mentioned in any of the official histories, Carter's diaries, the records, or anywhere else. Without the documentation that Richard was even in Egypt in 1922, it's strange that so many people accept his story without question. The point of listing this article, though, is that the author found that there was an article published by Lord Carnarvon in the Times admitting he, Howard, and Lady Evelyn went into the tomb the first night. But unfortunately we're not given a direct quote.

Available on-line at http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198106/the.last.survivor.htm.

A major problem with Richard's story is that some of his first hand observations don't jibe with what is reported by people who were definitely there. And some things just don't make sense. In an interview (not published until 2005 in the Middle East Times), he claimed (or at least is quoted as saying) there were massive tripwires and alarms set up at the tomb (there were armed guards and a padlocked steel door), that he tasted some "reconstituted" wine from the tomb which tasted like mead (constituents of wine of wine at that age would have oxidized to organic acids and would have tasted terrible), he had photos of the tomb in the Cairo museum, but they are now "archived somewhere in Britain" (but where isn't said), it was he who found the first step of the tomb (the native workmen found it), and that Howard only had a "few days of his concession" left (the tomb was discovered after only three days of digging and the normal digging season would not end for eight more months).

When you have someone in the midst of major historical events who pops up fifty years later, his existence can't be documented, his own hard evidence is not available, and what he says doesn't fit with what is known, you have to take the story with a pound or two of salt.