24. Press Conference

November 28^th. Wargaming – in conjunction with the University of Leeds – held a press conference this morning at the Imperial War Museum in London. The goal was to introduce the team members and announce the departure of the expedition in January. An hour before the start at 9:30 AM, a dozen camera crews took position along the back wall of the auditorium and more than fifty newspaper journalists from across Europe took their seats. On the stage, behind a bank of microphones, sat Victor Kisley, CEO of Wargaming, myself, as Director of Special Projects, David Cundall – the project originator, Isabel Hunt, Communications Director of Leeds University, Andy Brockman, Lead Archaeologist, and Dr. Clark and Dr. Booth, the project geophysicists, from the University of Leeds and Imperial College London respectively. Isabel Hunt introduced the team and showed a video of last month’s signing ceremony. Next Dr. Clark and Dr. Booth described the instrumentation they’ll use to survey the site, David retold his story for the press, and Victor and I explained how it is that a video game company came to be involved in archaeology and historic preservation. Finally, Andy likened the project to a police procedural, in which we have a “missing person” (e.g. the Spitfires) and have to follow the clues to determine what happened at Mingaladon in 1945 without making any assumptions.

The press conference ended promptly at 10:30, and was followed by dozens of one on one interviews in the main atrium of the museum. The camera crews opted to shoot the television interviews against a backdrop of the graceful Spitfire suspended from the ceiling. Among the press that attended were BBC news, ITN, ZDF Television (Germany), Der Spiegel, Reuters, AFP, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Sunday Times, the Financial Times, the New York Times, CNN, and many others. The BBC aired a three minute television news story that evening. David and shortly afterwards received an invitation to appear on BBC Breakfast – a show similar to Good Morning America – on Friday morning.  

After the media packed up, and the reporters left to file their stories, I decided to check out the museum gift shop at the Imperial War Museum. I ended up buying a beautiful die-cast model of a Spitfire. It now sits on my desk, as part of my desktop crew: Thai elephant, Terra Cotta Man, Jade Lion, and Buddha, all souvenirs from my travels. I hope it brings us luck next month when the expedition departs for Yangon.