Originally commissioned for the Paris Opéra Ballet by Rudolph Nureyev, the sons of Horus were minor Egyptian deities, often in the shape of funerary jars, who protected the organs of the body which were removed during the embalming period of mummification. They were variously a man, an ape, a jackal and a hawk.

The ballet opens with Isis lamenting the death of Osiris, then four movements follow depicting the Sons, their animal virtues and the particular organ they guard, and closes with the entire company walking to ‘the field of Reeds’, or paradise.

After three weeks in Paris, about which I could write a book, I gave up and came home. The ballet was given its premiere by The Royal Ballet a few months later.