Dear Ed

Many thanks indeed for such a detailed response - especially since you are clearly very busy working on a far more important project than this.

You are absolutely right that your rebuttal of the Orion Correlation has been misrepresented by others. I have made no secret of the fact that I have not been unduly impressed by it in the form I have previously received it, but the more detailed explanation you have provided reveals that it is the contradiction between the analysis of the shafts and the ground plan that is the stumbling block in your view, and this is clearly a much more valid argument.

For what it is worth, however, Robert Bauval recently accused myself and Rudolf Gantenbrink of wilfully misleading people into thinking that the shafts had huge deviations. Since I found this a bit rich coming from him, I supplied a detailed explanation of the shafts and their deviations, accompanied by a diagram, in my open letter to him (see www.ianlawton.com/oc10.htm). My conclusion is that the huge deviation of the northern QC shaft, which was last seen heading off in a north-westerly direction by Upuaut, plus the lesser deviation of its KC counterpart, neither of which is required to avoid the Grand Gallery (as my "from above" scale diagram proves), must place the star alignment theory regarding the shafts in grave doubt. It only takes one to significantly buck the trend for the purpose of them all to come into doubt. Of course, given that I am not convinced by this aspect, my own logical process allows me to evaluate the Orion Correlation independent of this, which is why I have never had a major problem with the "artistic licence" argument. I can however see that I am coming at this from the point of view of evaluating the OC theory in its own right and independently, whereas you are taking the equally valid tack of identifying the inconsistencies in Robert Bauval's approach to his various theories.

As to the other issues you raise, I totally agree with your comments about Robert and Graham Hancock using accuracy when it suits them and symbolism when it does not. Since we first spoke, Robert has actually deigned to respond to my criticisms of his theory at last (see www.ianlawton.com/oc13.htm), although not very effectively in my view, and I have raised this issue in my response (see www.ianlawton.com/oc14.htm). As for the supposed stellar correspondences beyond Giza, as far as I can tell these have been comprehensively dropped from the agenda because they were so outrageously distorted. The same is probably true of the detailed pinpointing of the "Hall of Records" under the Sphinx's rump.

I look forward to receiving your comments on my "fundamental flaws" paper when time permits.

Best wishes and thanks again for your time

Ian