For In Search of Myths and Heroes, his quest was to uncover how much of each story was truth, how much was legend and how much was pure invention. Whatever the mix, we don't seem to mind: myths continue to delight us despite the passing centuries. In recent times, Hollywood has retold these tales with great success. The medium may have changed but the story never dies.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
King Arthur, a 5th-century Celtic monarch who battled invading Anglo-Saxons, first appears in a history of Britain written in 830. The story was expanded in the 12th-century by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who most modern historians regard as primarily a writer of fiction. The Tudors popularised Arthur further, as did the Victorians.

Hollywood producers had a soft spot for Arthur. The musical, Camelot (1967), starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, cashed in on an Arthurian revival sparked by claims that Arthur's seat was a hilltop fort at South Cadbury, Somerset. More recently, King Arthur (2004), with Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, attempted a more realistic portrayal of the legend. But the most popular version has to be Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Silliness can endure, too.

Jason and the Golden Fleece
Ancient Greek storytellers came up with several versions of the Jason myth but they all shared a central theme. Jason and his heroic warriors must travel across uncharted waters (the modern Black Sea) to secure a golden ram's fleece with mystical powers. Possession of this fleece will enable Jason to regain control of a kingdom his father once ruled. The first tales featuring Jason appeared around 800 BC but they were set 500 years earlier. The most famous version was written by Apollonius of Rhodes, during the 3rd century BC.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963) is pure Hollywood. The screenplay takes as many liberties with the Greek myth as the original myth-makers took with Greek history. Todd Armstrong as Jason doesn't set the world alight but the special effects from stop-motion genius Ray Harryhausen are the best of their kind.

The Queen of Sheba
Powerful and alluring, the Queen of Sheba is such a charismatic figure that she features in the mythologies of several different cultures. The Old Testament, the Koran, Kabbalistic writings, and Turkish and Persian artworks all refer to a mysterious female ruler who travelled to Jerusalem and beguiled King Solomon. But there's little archaeological evidence of such a queen having lived in the time of King Solomon, traditionally thought to be around the 10th century BC.

Hollywood doesn't let the archaeologists stand in the way of a good story. Solomon and Sheba (1959), starring Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida is lavish, even by the standard of Hollywood biblical epics. Director King Vidor had a cast of thousands and wasn't afraid to use them...

Shangri-La
The darker the age, the more desperate we are for illumination. This is certainly true of the tale of Shangri-La, which differs from other myths in that it's a largely modern story. In 1933, British novelist James Hilton published Lost Horizon, which became an instant hit with the public. It follows the fortunes of a group of Western travellers whose aeroplane crashes in the remote, unexplored part of the Himalayas that we now know as Tibet. The group find themselves in an earthly paradise, where materialism, modern cynicism - and the threat of war - are unknown. Despite its modernity as a popular myth, the notion of an earthly paradise beyond the Himalayas had been known to Western scholars for centuries.

In 1937, director Frank Capra popularised the Shangri-La myth even further with an acclaimed film version of Hilton's novel, also called Lost Horizon. Ronald Colman is on fine form as the enigmatic hero obliged to confront the contradictions in his character thrown up by his encounter with Shangri-La. Interestingly, Hilton became a screenwriter himself during the 1930s, winning an Oscar for Mrs Miniver in 1942.