In the final twelve days January, I saw just one television programme. The TV was on the end of a mechanical arm over my bed. It wasn't much use because I was photophobic and the bright lights burned my eyes. Instead, I listened to a commentary with my eyes clamped shut. This was how I watched a BBC documentary on Amarna, the city founded by the pharaoh Akhenaten. You can watch extracts here.

I was quite taken by the absurdity of moving a capital city 400 miles into the desert to establish a new religion dedicated to Aten, the sun god. I might have known why at the time; now it's a mystery. Only now do I recognise the irony of listening in the dark to the story of light - a religion of light. At the time, I held the name Akhenaten in mind and lived another life. Perhaps that was enough. Yet now?

Much later, when I picked up a book on the subject, it reminded me of nothing.