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Mary Beard

Born

in Much Wenlock, The United Kingdom

January 01, 1955

Genre

History, Rome, Classics

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Winifred Mary Beard (born 1 January 1955) is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "A Don's Life", which appears on The Times as a regular column. Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".

Mary Beard, an only child, was born on 1 January 1955 in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her father, Roy Whitbread Beard, worked as an architect in Shrewsbury. She recalled him as "a raffish public-schoolboy type and a complete wastrel, but very engaging". Her mother Joyce Emily Beard was a headmistress and an enthusiastic rea Winifred Mary Beard (born 1 January 1955) is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "A Don's Life", which appears on The Times as a regular column. Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".

Mary Beard, an only child, was born on 1 January 1955 in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her father, Roy Whitbread Beard, worked as an architect in Shrewsbury. She recalled him as "a raffish public-schoolboy type and a complete wastrel, but very engaging". Her mother Joyce Emily Beard was a headmistress and an enthusiastic reader.

Mary Beard attended an all-female direct grant school. During the summer she participated in archaeological excavations; this was initially to earn money for recreational spending, but she began to find the study of antiquity unexpectedly interesting. But it was not all that interested the young Beard. She had friends in many age groups, and a number of trangressions: "Playing around with other people's husbands when you were 17 was bad news. Yes, I was a very naughty girl."

At the age of 18 she was interviewed for a place at Newnham College, Cambridge and sat the then compulsory entrance exam. She had thought of going to King's, but rejected it when she discovered the college did not offer scholarships to women. Although studying at a single-sex college, she found in her first year that some men in the University held dismissive attitudes towards women's academic potential, and this strengthened her determination to succeed. She also developed feminist views that remained "hugely important" in her later life, although she later described "modern orthodox feminism" as partly "cant". Beard received an MA at Newnham and remained in Cambridge for her PhD.

From 1979 to 1983 she lectured in Classics at King's College London. She returned to Cambridge in 1984 as a fellow of Newnham College and the only female lecturer in the Classics faculty. Rome in the Late Republic, which she co-wrote with the Cambridge ancient historian Michael Crawford, was published the same year. In 1985 Beard married Robin Sinclair Cormack. She had a daughter in 1985 and a son in 1987. Beard became Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement in 1992.

Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Beard was one of several authors invited to contribute articles on the topic to the London Review of Books. She opined that many people, once "the shock had faded", thought "the United States had it coming", and that "[w]orld bullies, even if their heart is in the right place, will in the end pay the price".[4] In a November 2007 interview, she stated that the hostility these comments provoked had still not subsided, although she believed it had become a standard viewpoint that terrorism was associated with American foreign policy.[1]

In 2004, Beard became the Professor of Classics at Cambridge.[3] She is also the Visiting Sather Professor of Classical Literature for 2008–2009 at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has delivered a series of lectures on "Roman Laughter".[5] ...more

779 posts
Mary Beard's Blog

Mary Beard isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

Grenfell Tower and the Fire of Rome

There was a good episode of The Long View on Radio 4 last week, looking at a terrible fire in Glasgow in 1905 as a ghastly parallel of the Grenfell Tower. But I couldn��t help thinking also of a much more distant fire, and the blame game around it that has lasted for centuries: the great fire of Rome in 64 CE.

We now know it best through the phrase ��Nero fiddled while Rome burned��

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Mary Beard’s books

Average rating: 4.02 · 156,830 ratings · 14,235 reviews · 67 distinct works • Similar authors

	SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome 4.05 avg rating — 87,115 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Women & Power: A Manifesto 4.02 avg rating — 40,562 ratings — published 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World 4.08 avg rating — 8,042 ratings — published 2023 — 46 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found 4.10 avg rating — 5,677 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization 3.69 avg rating — 2,880 ratings — published 2018 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures and Innovations 3.70 avg rating — 2,467 ratings — published 2013 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern 3.67 avg rating — 1,786 ratings — published 2021	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard, John Henderson 3.57 avg rating — 1,749 ratings — published 2000 — 44 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old 3.93 avg rating — 1,273 ratings — published 2026	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Parthenon 3.93 avg rating — 1,168 ratings — published 2002 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mary Beard…

Series by Mary Beard

It's a Don's Life (2 books)
by

Mary Beard

3.78 avg rating — 510 ratings

Religions of Rome (2 books)
by

Mary Beard,

John North,

Simon Price

4.12 avg rating — 343 ratings

March is Women’s History Month in the U.S. (in the U.K. and Australia, too!), and while we hold that it's good to read about women's history...

Polls

What Non-fiction (History) book should we read for May?

Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

16 votes 26.7%

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

14 votes 23.3%

Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by Anita Anand

13 votes 21.7%

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill

9 votes 15.0%

Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain by Clair Wills

5 votes 8.3%

Practicing History: Selected Essays by Barbara W. Tuchman

3 votes 5.0%

60 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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100+ Books in 2026: Leslie's 2011 100+ Books Challenge	92	129	Jan 02, 2012 11:34AM
The History Book ...: VICKI'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2011	125	183	Jan 02, 2012 02:59PM
The History Book ...: BEST 2010/2011 READ	27	141	Apr 05, 2012 08:27PM
Pick-a-Shelf: Game 1: Mini SAT - Birthday Edition	85	107	Dec 19, 2012 04:30AM
21st Century Lite...: National Book Critics Circle Finalists/Winners (2013/14)	23	96	Mar 17, 2014 08:47AM
The History Book ...: BIBLIOGRAPHY - RUBICON (SPOILER THREAD)	48	73	Dec 12, 2014 12:42PM
The History Book ...: VICKI'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2014	90	162	Dec 31, 2014 09:48PM
The Book Club: Books and Authors in the Media	71	119	Jan 14, 2015 01:36PM

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Mary Beard’s Followers (4,439)

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Mary Beard

779 postsMary Beard's Blog

Grenfell Tower and the Fire of Rome

Combine EditionsMary Beard’s books

Series by Mary Beard

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Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

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779 posts
Mary Beard's Blog

Combine Editions
Mary Beard’s books