Like another famous swashbuckling treasure hunter, he has a fear of snakes. And he's not averse to associating with mystics, charlatans and crooks in his quest for prized artifacts.
But unlike his fictional alter-ego, the "British Indiana Jones" claims he's discovered the genuine Ark of the Covenant — or at least a direct descendant of the vessel constructed to hold the original tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
In a newly released book, University of London professor Tudor Parfitt claims to have located the treasured artifact on a dusty shelf of an out-of-the-way museum in Harare, Zimbabwe....
