By . Rosie Taylor . PUBLISHED: . 18:54 EST, 13 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:19 EST, 14 October 2013 . 'Too many buttons': Professor Beard lamented the change in museums these days . Museums are too full of computer screens and are ‘patronising’ towards children, Mary Beard  said yesterday. The classicist and TV presenter said she wanted to ‘ban computers’ from museums which had lost some of their ‘mystique’ and ‘glamour’. Professor Beard, 58, said museums had ‘done a huge amount to get children in’. But she added: ‘A part of me thinks that some of it is a bit patronising. ‘Some of that old mystique... some of the glamour has gone a bit – too many bloody labels and buttons to push. I would ban any computers from any galleries.’ She said she had taken her children to the Natural History Museum, but all they wanted to do was ‘push the buttons’. And she bemoaned the replacement of traditional museum displays in glass cases with interactive exhibitions. She said: ‘We found this beautiful gallery of stuffed birds, and there was a notice saying “sorry, we realise this is totally unacceptable and the way the birds were killed wouldn’t have lived up to Health and Safety standards”.’ The note explained that the gallery was to be replaced ‘with some great interactive display’, she added. The University of Cambridge Classics professor has presented several BBC historical documentaries, mainly focusing on the Romans. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, she revealed that her love of Classics was inspired by a visit to the British Museum when she was five. She could not see into the high glass cases, so a curator opened one and brought out a piece of carbonised Egyptian cake that was 2,500 years old. ‘I couldn’t believe it was so old. I just knew that this was something that was kind of outside anything I had ever begun to think about before,’ she said. She added that nowadays ‘they wouldn’t get the carbonised cake out’, but that children could do things like ‘have a sleepover among the mummies at the British Museum’. Changed: Places like the Natural History Museum used to be all about the artefacts, Mary Beard claims . Now it is all about technology, Mary Beard said. She reminisced about seeing Egyptian cake on her first trip . Professor Beard defended the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek in schools, saying children should be allowed to study without having ‘really specific employment objectives’. She said: ‘It is about getting exercise with the brain, the more you exercise it and expand it into different areas the better a citizen you will be.’ She also said being an academic would always come before her TV work. ‘You can go down a treacherous path, that all you need to do is do telly and that’s enough – it’s not,’ she said. Asked what her colleagues thought of her TV work and attempts to popularise Classics, she joked that they ‘were very polite’. ‘It is quite a good idea to do [this sort of thing] when you are a bit older,’ she added. ‘I have done my time, I do my teaching. ‘I’m first a professional classicist. Everything else I do, I do in my  so-called spare time, and I think that is important.’
Professor Beard says the Natural History Museum has lost its 'mystique'
Classicist told an audience at Cheltenham Literary Festival her children were more interested in buttons to push than the traditional glass case displays .
By . Rosie Taylor . PUBLISHED: . 18:54 EST, 13 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:19 EST, 14 October 2013 . 'Too many buttons': Professor Beard lamented the change in museums these days . Museums are too full of computer screens and are ‘patronising’ towards children, Mary Beard  said yesterday. The classicist and TV presenter said she wanted to ‘ban computers’ from museums which had lost some of their ‘mystique’ and ‘glamour’. Professor Beard, 58, said museums had ‘done a huge amount to get children in’. But she added: ‘A part of me thinks that some of it is a bit patronising. ‘Some of that old mystique... some of the glamour has gone a bit – too many bloody labels and buttons to push. I would ban any computers from any galleries.’ She said she had taken her children to the Natural History Museum, but all they wanted to do was ‘push the buttons’. And she bemoaned the replacement of traditional museum displays in glass cases with interactive exhibitions. She said: ‘We found this beautiful gallery of stuffed birds, and there was a notice saying “sorry, we realise this is totally unacceptable and the way the birds were killed wouldn’t have lived up to Health and Safety standards”.’ The note explained that the gallery was to be replaced ‘with some great interactive display’, she added. The University of Cambridge Classics professor has presented several BBC historical documentaries, mainly focusing on the Romans. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, she revealed that her love of Classics was inspired by a visit to the British Museum when she was five. She could not see into the high glass cases, so a curator opened one and brought out a piece of carbonised Egyptian cake that was 2,500 years old. ‘I couldn’t believe it was so old. I just knew that this was something that was kind of outside anything I had ever begun to think about before,’ she said. She added that nowadays ‘they wouldn’t get the carbonised cake out’, but that children could do things like ‘have a sleepover among the mummies at the British Museum’. Changed: Places like the Natural History Museum used to be all about the artefacts, Mary Beard claims . Now it is all about technology, Mary Beard said. She reminisced about seeing Egyptian cake on her first trip . Professor Beard defended the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek in schools, saying children should be allowed to study without having ‘really specific employment objectives’. She said: ‘It is about getting exercise with the brain, the more you exercise it and expand it into different areas the better a citizen you will be.’ She also said being an academic would always come before her TV work. ‘You can go down a treacherous path, that all you need to do is do telly and that’s enough – it’s not,’ she said. Asked what her colleagues thought of her TV work and attempts to popularise Classics, she joked that they ‘were very polite’. ‘It is quite a good idea to do [this sort of thing] when you are a bit older,’ she added. ‘I have done my time, I do my teaching. ‘I’m first a professional classicist. Everything else I do, I do in my  so-called spare time, and I think that is important.’
labels and buttons to push. I would ban any taken her children to the Natural History Museum, museum displays in glass cases with interactive Romans. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Professor Beard defended the teaching of Latin