Ask any well-informed trivia fan who invented liquid paper correction fluid and they will tell you it was Texan secretary Bette Nesmith Graham whose other claim to fame was being the mother of Monkees guitarist and singer Mike Nesmith.
But now researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, have uncovered evidence she was beaten to it by the ancient Egyptians more than 3,000 years ago.
The discovery came to light while they were preparing for their show Made in Ancient Egypt, which runs until April 12, and features a Book of the Dead made for a senior royal scribe.
It includes an image of a jackal that has been altered to appear thinner by the inclusion of a thick white border around it.
Curator Helen Strudwick said images seen through a 3D digital microscope show "these
white lines were painted deliberately over parts of the black body and back legs, changing the way the jackal appears".
She said: "It’s as if someone saw the original way the jackal was painted and said 'it’s too fat; make it thinner', so the artist has made a kind of ancient Egyptian ‘tippex’ – also known as ‘Wite-out’ or ‘Liquid Paper’ – to fix it."