Mary Beard

Dame Winifred Mary Beard, (born 1 January 1955) is an English scholar of Ancient Roman civilisation. She is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Newnham College, and Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature. She is the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, where she also writes a regular blog, "A Don's Life". Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".The New Yorker characterises her as "learned but accessible".