Thomas Becket: troublesome or over-promoted?

The British Museum is recovering from the covid lockdown in grand style, with two major exhibitions opening one after the other: the first on Thomas Beckett for the Medievalists and then for the Romanists — Nero (AD 54 – 68). In this opinion piece, Editor-in-Chief Andrew Selkirk offers his perspective on the 'troublesome priest'.

Today (18th May 2021) was jolly nearly a disaster. It was the day after the first phase of ending Covid lockdown restrictions, and I had it down in my diary as being the press day for the opening of the Nero exhibition at the British Museum. So we decided to celebrate. I put on my best suit and bow tie for the first time in over a year, and ventured out into the big wide world and down to the British Museum. But when we got there: disaster. We were a week too early. The Becket exhibition opened yesterday, but Nero does not open for another week. Nonetheless, the gatekeeper took pity on us and let us in: why not see the Becket exhibition instead? So we made our way in and investigate

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