I’M THRILLED by the amount of coverage that my Nazi gold-hunting trip to Holland has received. Not only was it featured on page 3 of the Sunday Times, but I have also been interviewed by the BBC World Service and BBC World News TV. You can watch the TV interview above – apologies in advance for the ropey Zoom connection! And later today (Monday 9 Jan) at 20:30 GMT I’ll be joining James Holland and Al Murray on their We Have Ways livestream. What I’m also particularly excited about is the fantastic mini-documentary of the trip filmed and edited by my son, Will, which you can see on YouTube, and which was featured in the BBC TV segment.
On a more serious note, some have been critical of my trip, suggesting that I was little more than a looter, was showing a lack of archaeological rigour, and was being insensitive by digging up a battlefield.
First, I should stress that the site near Ommeren was not a battlefield, so there was absolutely no chance of accidentally unearthing any human remains. Secondly, although I fully admit that I should have sought permission by hacking away at a small patch of earth next to a public park, it was never my intention to ‘loot’ any treasure. In the extremely unlikely event of actually finding any, I would have turned it over to the Dutch authorities so they could have restored it to their rightful owners. Really, I would have done! Finally, I certainly did not go about my excavations in the manner of an archaeologist for the simple reason that I was not practising archaeological research, but was engaging in a wildly speculative hunt for buried treasure.
Ultimately, most people have seen the expedition for what it clearly was – a piece of entertainment, mostly tongue-in-cheek – but making the serious point that it is extremely unlikely that there is any significant amount of Nazi gold or treasure to be found. What had tickled me about this story was the fact that there was a proper treasure map with a red X marking the spot, and of all the cases of supposed hidden Nazi gold I have come across, the chances of finding something were, for once, somewhat better than infinitesimal.
Guy interviewed about his hunt for Nazi gold on BBC World News