December 18, 1974

Neal Spencer (December 18, 1974) finished his Ph.D (Downing College, Cambridge) in 2001. His career is mainly associated with the British Museum: as Assistant Keeper, Dept of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, 2000–11 and then Keeper, Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, British Museum, since 2012.

His publications include:

A Naos of Nekhthorheb from Bubastis, (2006) and

Kom Firin II: the urban fabric and landscape, (2014)

Spencer's Who's Who article mentions the history of London is a hobby for him.

Another publication he wrote, from 2007 is The Gayer Anderson Cat, which is 64 pages in length. Below are quotes from a review of this

The life-size bronze statuette known as the Gayer Anderson Cat is an acknowledged icon of the British Museum, and surely one of the most frequently reproduced in the Museum’s merchandise and in print. Exceptional in being specifically named after its modern donor, the collector John Gayer-Anderson, the statuette represents one of the most iconic images of ancient Egypt: the goddess Bastet.

This short guide succeeds not only in providing a valuable single collection of information on the fascinating modern history of this (probably Saite) bronze sculpture and its former owner, it also sets the Cat in its proper context of ancient use. ...Spencer – whose doctorate focussed on Late Period temples – gives the reader a genuinely insightful account of the ‘whys’ of the statuette’s role as temple furniture, as well as an admirably accessible treatment of the technical ‘hows’ of its ancient manufacture. ...

The cat in question