The British Museum has announced new trustee appointments—five well-known figures from disciplines including history, journalism, and broadcasting who are quietly shaping Britain’s cultural conversation.
Claudia Winkleman, the Strictly Come Dancing host and Cambridge art history graduate, is the most recognisable person on the list. She has been a BM devotee since childhood. “Weekly pilgrimages with my father, then studying here, now dragging my kids around the Assyrian galleries,” she laughs. “I’ve grown up in this place.”
She’s joined by:
Historian Tom Holland, whose bestselling books on Rome and his phenomenally popular podcast The Rest is History have made antiquity feel unexpectedly sexy. “The first time I saw the Rosetta Stone, aged eight, I nearly hyperventilated,” he admits. “Now I get to help steer the ship? Pinch me.”
Lord Daniel Finkelstein – Times columnist, Chelsea FC director, and Holocaust memoirist who still remembers queueing for Tutankhamun in 1972
Martha Kearney – BBC stalwart and classics obsessive whose childhood BM visits sparked a lifelong archaeology addiction
Dr Tiffany Jenkins, a culture critic and author of ‘Keeping Their Marbles’, a controversial book that defends a museum’s right to keep colonial treasures that may or may not have been acquired lawfully centuries ago. She joins at what she calls “the museum’s most fascinating crossroads.”
George Osborne, the Museum’s chair, said, “This isn’t just about governance; it’s about bringing in people who can help us tell our story better – especially now.” That last bit hangs in the air, a nod to the ongoing restitution debates, Internal theft problems and funding challenges.
With 15 of 25 trustees appointed by No.10, these choices feel deliberate. Winkleman’s mass appeal, Holland’s scholarly cred, and Jenkins’ expertise on contested heritage are dream teams for an institution walking the tightrope between tradition and change.
Winkleman says, “However complicated the conversations get, we can’t lose sight of why this place matters. That gasp when a kid sees Sutton Hoo for the first time? That’s the magic we’re here to protect.”
Finkelstein still has his childhood BM guidebook, complete with spaghetti sauce stains from the café
The new trustees’ first test? In this summer’s Michelangelo: The Last Decades – we’re betting Winkleman will still find time to pop in for her usual Saturday wander. Some habits, like the BM itself, endure.
Founded in 1753, the British Museum was the world’s first national public museum, established after physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed his vast collection of curiosities to the nation. Parliament approved its creation, funding it through a public lottery, and on 15 January 1759, it opened its doors in Montagu House, Bloomsbury—free to “all studious and curious persons.”
The museum’s holdings grew rapidly through exploration, colonial expansion, and private donations. Key acquisitions included the Rosetta Stone (1802), which unlocked Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the Parthenon Marbles (1816), acquired by Lord Elgin amid controversy that persists today. By the early 19th century, the collection had outgrown its home, leading to Sir Robert Smirke’s neoclassical redesign (1823–52), crowned by the iconic Greek Revival façade.
The museum evolved into a global institution in the 20th century. The Natural History collection moved to South Kensington in 1881, and the British Library (once part of the museum) relocated in 1997, making space for new galleries. Postwar debates over restitution intensified, with nations like Greece and Nigeria calling for the return of contested artefacts. Yet the museum remains a steward of human history, from Assyrian lion hunts to the Lewis Chessmen.
The 2000 Great Court renovation—Europe’s largest covered square—symbolises the museum’s modern mission: illuminating the past while navigating the complexities of cultural ownership in a connected world. As the museum marks its 270th year, its legacy endures: a treasure house of civilizations, still free to all.