Sir Mortimer and Magnus
Season 1
The esteemed English archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler talks about his life and discoveries with Icelandic reporter Magnus Magnusson.
Where to Watch Sir Mortimer and Magnus • Season 1
6 Episodes
- Churchill and the First Englishman
E1Churchill and the First EnglishmanFirst transmitted in 1974, Magnus Magnusson talks to Sir Mortimer Wheeler about Winston Churchill's writing and how close his Nobel Prize-winning volumes 'The History of the English-Speaking Peoples' came to being founded on a forgery - Piltdown Man. - The Festival Dig
E2The Festival DigFirst transmitted in 1974, Magnus Magnusson talks to Sir Mortimer Wheeler about his excavation at Stanwick St John in Yorkshire during the Festival of Britain celebrations in 1951. It was there that Wheeler uncovered the Iron Age stronghold of the Brigantes, a tribe of Celts. - The Royal House of the BrigantesE3
The Royal House of the BrigantesFirst transmitted in 1974, Magnus Magnusson talks to Sir Mortimer Wheeler about Brigantes in northern Britain at the time of the Roman conquest. The Brigantes, a tribe of Celts, attempted to stave off the approaching Roman army at Stanwick St John in Yorkshire. - In the Steps of Alexander
E4In the Steps of AlexanderIn the year 327BC Alexander the Great conquered Pushkalavati, the 'Lotus City' at the foot of the Khyber Pass. Upon invitation by the Government of Pakistan Sir Mortimer Wheeler traveled to the site in 1958 and commenced what was to be his last excavation. - The Genius of Flinders Petrie
E5The Genius of Flinders PetrieFirst transmitted in 1974, Magnus Magnusson talks to Sir Mortimer Wheeler about Sir Flinders Petrie, the single-minded Egyptologist and eccentric who was Wheeler's friend for 20 years. Mortimer Wheeler claimed that he had known four geniuses in his life: "Winston Churchill, Sir Arthur Evans who discovered the Minoan civilisation, the painter Augustus John and Sir Flinders Petrie." - Schliemann and Gladstone
E6Schliemann and GladstoneFirst transmitted in 1974, Magnus Magnusson and Sir Mortimer Wheeler discuss the changing attitudes to archaeology which have taken place in Wheeler's lifetime. He talks about the disagreement in 1877 between Heinrich Schliemann, the excavator of Troy, and the statesman William Gladstone over the question of nudity in Ancient Greece.