Cigars of The Pharaoh - References To Real People

References To Real People

In the Egyptian tomb, one of the mummified Egyptologists is called 'E. P. Jacobini'; this is a reference to Hergé's fellow artist E. P. Jacobs whose Mystery of the Great Pyramid is another classic comic-strip adventure revolving around an Egyptian tomb. In the original 1932 strip, the Egyptologist is called Sauerkraut.

In the 1934 version, the mummified scholar who is so tall that the top of his sarcophagus has had to be cut away is labelled Lord Carnaval, a reference to Lord Carnarvon who financed Howard Carter's search for the tomb of Tutankhamun.

When Tintin and Snowy are cast adrift in sarcophagi in the Red Sea, they are picked up by a passing sailing ship captained by a man who turns out to be an arms smuggler. The captain was based on the adventurer Henry de Monfreid who was also into such activities.