She had thought of going to King's, but rejected it when she discovered the college did not offer scholarships to women. Yes, I was a very naughty girl.'Īt the age of 18 she was interviewed for a place at Newnham College, Cambridge and sat the then compulsory entrance exam. 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. But it was not all that interested the young Beard. 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. Mary Beard attended an all-female direct grant school. Her mother Joyce Emily Beard was a headmistress and an enthusiastic reader. She recalled him as 'a raffish public-schoolboy type and a complete wastrel, but very engaging'. Her father, Roy Whitbread Beard, worked as an architect in Shrewsbury. Mary Beard, an only child, was born on 1 January 1955 in Much Wenlock, Shropshire.

Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as 'Britain's best-known classicist'. 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. Winifred Mary Beard (born 1 January 1955) is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of Newnham College.

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