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An author and retired academic has published his first novel after turning his lifelong “fascination” for Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and biblical figure Moses into prose.

Ex-Trimdon man Dr Alan Bell, 75, has written Tutankhamun’s Uncle, which creates a link between Tutankhamun and Moses and explores how the disruption to life in ancient Egypt led to Moses leading people out of Egypt.

Dr Bell, who attended Trimdon Secondary Modern School from 1959 to 1963, said: "Tut had always been a fascination with me from early childhood, when I would tell my fourth-grade class that I had visited Egypt and seen the treasures of his tomb.

"All in my mind, you understand.

Dr Alan Bell has published his first fiction novel.

"I had, and still have, a vivid imagination, or some may say a strange and weird foresight, for one day I did make that journey to Egypt, and made that dream real.

"However, at that stage, in a sink school in a North East England mining village, it was totally unrealistic for me to imagine that I, or my family, would ever be able to leave the village, never mind make that visit."

It took Dr Bell seven years to complete his book, spending three to four years researching before he put pen to paper.

Dr Bell continued: “Then there was my fascination with Moses. A strict church upbringing had introduced him to me at a very early age and a desire to know him more had my young mind spinning.

"Consequently, another unrealistic dream saw me taking the Exodus alongside him and writing dramas about our adventures for school consumption.”

Dr Bell, a former adjunct professor at universities in France, USA, Turkey, Cyprus and India, as well as principal lecturer at Teesside University, said: “Having spent a great deal of my life looking into these issues, I would like to extend my findings around the world. Hence the need for a book.

"However, people like to read exciting stories so I have written a fictional account so that people can enjoy reading this truly magnificent tale.”

Dr Bell, who now lives in France, already has four other novels in the process, including one that explores American gunfighter Billy the Kid and Masonic conspiracies.

Kindle and paperback copies are available to order online at Amazon.

Trimdon author and retired academic Dr Alan Bell publishes first novel called Tutankhamun's Uncle