The Cambridge classics professor makes genuine-life history as moreish as an episode of Game of Thrones. Plus: there’s camaraderie and parties in Caravanner of the Year
Hail,Mary Beard! The most subversive and impish of dons has returned to Rome. Watch her enter the gladiatorial ring of primetime telly and square up to epitaphs, launch herself at city walls, or make the past as moreish as an episode of Game of Thrones. This time Beard – as she likes to be called – is rewriting Roman imperialism with a glint in her eye and a pair of silvery hi-tops on her feet. Ignore the macho and American-sounding title: Mary Beard’s final Rome: Empire Without Limit (BBC2) is a thoughtful and resolutely British series that,like its predecessors, deserves to draw in viewers by the million.
This is not just final Rome, or this is Mary Beard’s final Rome. Which,even if it sounds like a reality TV show in which skinny celebs trade blows in a multicolour-lit amphitheatre, is a far more interesting space to be. So much time has been wasted on the abuse that has been directed at Beard that should be spent celebrating her mental prowess and brute enthusiasm. It’s like banging on approximately David Attenborough’s chinos instead of his love of the natural world. So let’s just call it what it is – vile and inexcusable misogyny – and hotfoot on.
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Source: theguardian.com