Terry O'Connor

Frank: memoirs of an archaeologist Terry O'Connor

This is the story of Cornelius Franklin Gudgeon, archaeologist, as pieced together from the notes and tape-recordings that he left behind. It tells the tale of an ordinary man from a mercantile background in the English Midlands who became a solider then dug in Mesopotamia, met and knew Agatha Christie, worked with Mortimer Wheeler, and established a successful academic Department at a northern University. The memoir reflects on some of the major names in the 20th century development of archaeology whom Gudgeon encountered along the way and some of the significant developments in the subject as he saw them. It is also the story of a life, and of the generation that saw service in two World Wars and who saw the world change around them. Gudgeon's style is good-natured and anecdotal. He is an engaging and informative narrator, but is he an unreliable one? That is for the reader to judge.