25 Facts About Neil MacGregor

Robert Neil MacGregor was born on 16 June 1946 and is a British art historian and former museum director.

Neil MacGregor was editor of the Burlington Magazine from 1981 to 1987, then Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 to 2002, Director of the British Museum from 2003 to 2015, and founding director of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin until 2018.

Neil MacGregor was born in Glasgow to two medical doctors, Alexander and Anna MacGregor.

Neil MacGregor was educated at Glasgow Academy and then read modern languages at New College, Oxford, where he is an honorary fellow.

From 1975 to 1981, Neil MacGregor taught History of Art and Architecture at the University of Reading.

Neil MacGregor left to assume the editorship of The Burlington Magazine.

Neil MacGregor oversaw the transfer of the magazine from the Thomson Corporation to an independent not-for-profit company with charitable status.

In 1987 Neil MacGregor became director of the National Gallery in London.

Neil MacGregor declined the offer of a knighthood in 1999, the first director of the National Gallery to do so.

Neil MacGregor has been lauded for his "diplomatic" approach to the post, though MacGregor rejects this description, stating that "diplomat is conventionally taken to mean the promotion of the interests of a particular state and that is not what we are about at all".

Neil MacGregor's tenure included exhibitions that were more provocative than the museum had previously shown and some told stories from perspectives that were less Eurocentric than previously, including a project about the Muslim Hajj.

Neil MacGregor sparked debate with his claim that the ancient Persian empire was greater than Ancient Greece.

In 2010, Neil MacGregor presented a series on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service entitled A History of the World in 100 Objects, based on one hundred artefacts held in the British Museum's collection.

Neil MacGregor argued that it is the British Museum's duty to "preserve the universality of the marbles, and to protect them from being appropriated as a nationalistic political symbol", and that "there is no legal system in Europe that would challenge the [British Museum's] legal title" to the works.

In January 2008, Neil MacGregor was appointed chairman of the World Collections programme, for training international curators at British museums.

That year Neil MacGregor was invited to succeed Philippe de Montebello as the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Neil MacGregor declined the offer as the Metropolitan charges its visitors for entry and is thus "not a public institution".

Neil MacGregor retired from the post in December 2015 and was succeeded in spring 2016 by Hartwig Fischer, till then the director of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

On 8 April 2015, Neil MacGregor announced his retirement as Director of the British Museum.

One of Neil MacGregor's proposals was to make admission to the museum free of charge, based on the model of the British Museum.

Neil MacGregor has made many programmes for British television and radio.

In 2017, Neil MacGregor hosted a BBC Radio Four series Living with the Gods, on expressions of religious faith, liaising with Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, on the presentation of world cultures.

At the beginning of 2019, Neil MacGregor presented a programme called "As Others See Us" on BBC Radio Four.

On 4 November 2010, Neil MacGregor was appointed to the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II.

On 25 March 2013 Neil MacGregor was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia by the Governor-General of Australia Quentin Bryce, "for service to promoting Australia and Australian art in the United Kingdom".