[Initial brief response dated 18 Feb 2000]

Dear Mr Lawton,

I have read your email with great interest. It has reached me at a time when I cannot make a detailed response - i.e. read your web pages etc. - so this is just a brief reply for now. I have been on the road the last few days and now newly arrived at Guanajuato, Mexico.

I have heard of your book via Chris Hale, the Horizon producer - I am not sure if he knew of it at the time of producing the Horizon episode, or was told about it afterwards. I was subsequently unable to obtain or see a copy of it in Cape Town. But I look forward to seeing it one day.

Some of the points you have raised. Yes, I agree that the North-South reversal argument detracts from the key criticisms - and Ed Krupp seems to push it too far.

My 50 degree angle is a rounded off value - I initially measured it from the planetarium projector. Subsequent calculations assuming circular precession put it closer to 48 degrees, but there will always be some uncertainty due to the unknown effect of nutation. Planetariums and most computer programs assume circular precession which is a reasonable approximation. I would still like to look into proper motions, but I have assumed negligible.

Yes, if one restricts the debate to only two pyramids, then a fit is possible - but then you could claim an association with numerous pairs of stars in the sky - any pair of stars you want for any date you want. Choosing two of Orion's stars would therefore seem quite unconvincing. I have always thought that any convincing fit would involve three pyramids and all three stars - and for that one would have to accept the North-South interchange, and a different date to 10500 BC.

Anyway, I need to read your material in detail - and then write again. The days ahead bring rather tight time and a conference, so forgive me if there is some delay.

I have however enjoyed meaning hearing what you say and your experience with Bauval.

Best wishes,

Tony Fairall

[Follow up response dated 8 Mar 2000]

Dear Ian,

Thank you for your email. It happened I did also manage to recover all my emails from Mexico.

I have examined your web site with great interest, and the correspondence with Robert Bauval gives me a much clearer account than that I have received second hand. For instance I see he has there made public the idea that 10500 BC was chosen because it was a "first time", with Orion at the bottom of its precessional cycle - rather than that it matched the ground layout with any precision. That was also forwarded to me by Chris Hale. My response is that to establish such a first time would take many thousands of years of observation - which seems to me somewhat unlikely.

I might also comment on measuring angles via sky globe. The sky is normally depicted as a celestial sphere - sky globe produces a flattened version which can distort angles. In the sky, for instance, a line through Orion's Belt leads one to Sirius, but on a flattened map (like we hand out at our planetarium), this is not usually the case. I have gone through the exercise of measuring the angles on our planetarium dome - which agree with my calculations.

I like your argument re the magnitudes of the three stars versus the sizes of the pyramids (I also mentioned it in our planetarium show, but not in so much detail).

Other points in your email - I think I covered in my initial response. If only two stars and two pyramids are involved, I felt the argument was much weaker. To get three stars and three pyramids requires a further tilt of ten degrees. Also, like Ed Krupp, I am not that happy about the north-south interchange - which should have been stated by Bauval at the outset.

I am not really out to get involved further in the whole business, but I will enjoy discussing things with my contacts here in the Egyptian Society - and I will make sure they know of your site. I will also be trying to get hold of your book.

Please keep me informed of further developments.

Best wishes for now

Tony Fairall