John J. Johnston, Egyptologist, Classicist & Cultural Historian

John is a professional lecturer, writer, and editor. An eloquent speaker and raconteur with an engaging manner and dapper style, his research interests encompass Egyptian mortuary belief and practice, gender and sexuality in the ancient world, Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, the history of Egyptology, and the reception of the ancient world in modern popular culture.

He is also a freelance, Egyptologist, Classicist, and cultural historian. A former Vice-Chair of the Egypt Exploration Society (2009-2015), he has lectured extensively at major academic and cultural institutions throughout the UK and beyond. In addition to contributing numerous articles to both academic and general publications, he has co-edited the volumes Narratives of Egypt and the Ancient Near East: Literary Linguistic Approaches (Peeters, 2011), A Good Scribe and an Exceedingly Wise Man (Golden House, 2014), and an anthology of classic mummy fiction, Unearthed (Jurassic London, 2013). Formerly, a member of the Editorial Board of the journal, Egyptian Archaeology (2011-2020), he is a Trustee of By Jove Theatre Company (2020-Present), and Editor at Large for Horrified Magazine (2020-Present). He has made onscreen contributions for major documentaries on the Blu-Ray releases of more than twenty, gloriously restored, Hammer Films, originally produced between 1958 and 1976, in addition to making onscreen contributions to the television documentaries Egypt’s Unexplained Files (360 Productions Ltd, 2019), a ten-episode series, Tutankhamun in Colour (BBC, 2020), and The Curse of Tutankhamun (Viacom International, 2020).