Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Last Crusade and Aladdin

By Kevin Dixon, on Thursday, August 19, 2010

In the original script of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), George Lucas wrote the role of Indiana Jones’ father as a professor of medieval literature who cared more about looking for the Holy Grail than raising his son.

The role was written as ‘a crazy, eccentric’ professor, resembling Laurence Olivier, whose relationship with Indiana is ‘strict schoolmaster and student rather than a father and son’.

Sean Connery initially turned the role down as he was only 12 years older than Harrison Ford. However, he changed his mind, and – as a student of history – began to reshape the character. Revisions were then made to the script to address his concerns.

Connery based his character on a Torquay-born adventurer: “I wanted to play Henry Jones as a kind of Sir Richard Burton.”

(1821-1890) was an explorer, linguist, author, and soldier.

In 1853, taking leave from the army, he undertook a ‘Hajj’ or pilgrimage to Mecca, in disguise. His account of the trip made him famous.

Burton then made a journey to the forbidden East African city of Harar, disguised as an Arab pilgrim and speaking fluent Arabic. Europeans were not allowed in Arabian holy cities, and were executed if they were caught.

In 1855, Burton and three companions (including John Hanning Speke and two other officers of the British East India Company) began an unsuccessful trip in search of the source of the White Nile. One member of the expedition was killed in an attack by locals, and Speke and Burton were injured.

After serving as a soldier in the Crimean War, Burton returned to Africa (1857-58) with Speke in order to renew their search. After much hardship, they made it to Lake Tanganyika, and were the first Europeans to see it. Speke continued on to the lake that Speke later named Lake Victoria, the largest in Africa – though Burton was too ill, suffering from malaria.

Speke believed that Lake Victoria was the White Nile’s source, but Burton did not agree. This contributed to a long and bitter public quarrel between the two men which ended in September 1864 when Speke died in a shooting which was either suicide or an accident. Speke was late found to be correct.

Burton was a prolific author, mainly on travel and ethnography. He also translated classical and Renaissance literature, with a particular interest in eastern erotica. He translated and printed the Kama Sutra (1883) and The Perfumed Garden (1886).

He is most known for his translation of the 16 volumes of The Tales of the Arabian Nights (1885-1888). He also wrote 43 volumes about his trips.

Burton was knighted by Queen Victoria in February, 1886. He died in 1890, in Trieste, and is buried in a tomb in the shape of a Bedouin tent in Mortlake, south west London.

(image: Torquay-born adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton was the inspiration for Sean Connery’s character in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade)