June 16, 1946

Neil MacGregor, was born in Glasgow, Scotland (June 16, 1946). He has been director of the British Museum since 2002. His resume includes a stint as director of the National Gallery (London) from 1987 until 2002. MacGregor is a star in the firmament of British cultural commentators, hosting three television series on art, and a radio series in 2010: A History of the World in 100 Objects. The book accompanying the last series has the same name and came out in 2011. A review says: Even before he became director of the British Museum, MacGregor was fascinated by the evocative power of objects. “The distinction between a gallery and a museum is enormous,” he says. “The gallery is about looking at a thing of beauty; the purpose of the activity is an aesthetic response. The museum is actually about the object that lets you get into somebody else’s life.”.

We take a couple of his descriptions to quote below.

For instance he includes the "Rhind Mathematical Papyrus", in the 100 objects. The papyrus is dated to about 1550 BC, and was found near Thebes. This is a book of [84] numbers problems, apparently designed for Egyptian administrators-- Here we quote a translation from that papyrus:
"In seven houses there are seven cats. Each cat catches seven mice. If each mouse were to eat seven ears of corn, and each ear of corn, if sown, were to produce seven gallons of grain, how many things are mentioned in total?"
Among other things the Egyptian administrators need such texts to teach them how to [calculate] so that they could accurately "measure out the gods offerings."...

..

And this is fascinating:

......In the 1590s, this ship ...[model] was presented by James (VI of Scotland, James I of England) to the church in Leith as an offering [of thanks] for divine intervention that rescued him and his bride from storms caused by witches. In England, witches are a low-grade, parish council type of witch; Scottish witches operate on a higher political level. A woman called Anne Sampson confesses that she has been up to something nasty, because the devil told her that James was the most powerful Christian king. James sees that this is good for his image and ensures that the story – in which Sampson talks about going to sea in a sieve – is widely circulated. Her words are echoed in Macbeth.