Pigeon post

Two years ago a pair of pigeons made a nest and brought up two squabs in the rose outside my study window. I didn't see them last year, but this year, about a month late, they returned (I assume it’s them), and built a new nest in the same place. I call the bird on …

Boris Anrep National Gallery mosaics

I posted photos in my earlier blog about Boris Anrep’s National Gallery mosaics, but I didn't know much about them. I now have a copy of the gallery’s out-of-print guide. Here are some better-informed details that visitors might find interesting pending a new guide, and at the end a few words about a portrait Mary …

Beatrice de Cardi

My obituary for Beatrice de Cardi has just gone live on the Guardian website, and I guess will be in the paper tomorrow. I have written a longer version for the Society of Antiquaries' newsletter (Salon), which fellows will receive next week. She was an astute and discrete lady. I suspect we will start to find …

Beatrice de Cardi 1914–2016

Beatrice de Cardi, distinguished and honoured archaeologist, founding secretary of the Council for British Archaeology, with a career that ranged from Mortimer Wheeler’s personal secretary to significant fieldwork in the pre-Islamic cultures of the Arabian Gulf and Baluchistan, died this morning, aged 102. A dear and dignified lady. Expect many tributes. Below is an interview …