453: Mary Beard in conversation with Harry Mount

Mary Beard chats to Harry Mount about her new book, Talking Classics - the Shock of the Old. She reveals how she first fell in love with the ancient world when she was five – and a British Museum room steward opened a display case, holding a 4,000-year-old bread roll from Thebes, Egypt, for her. She discusses Mussolini's reconstructions of ancient Roman buildings – and translates the delightfully rude graffiti in the Bar of Salvius in Pompeii.

You can listen to 453: Mary Beard in conversation with Harry Mount online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

453: Mary Beard in conversation with Harry Mount is an episode from The Oldie Podcast by The Oldie Magazine Podcast.

This episode is 42:58 long.

This episode was published on Apr 13, 2026.

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