I teach Classics at Jesus College Oxford, and research and write on the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. I also perform as a cellist, formerly my profession, and did so in my TEDx talk. My current research is on the sound of ancient Greek music, a topic that spans my main interests.
I write a clog i.e. an intermittent blog; posts are listed on the left.
Supported by a British Academy Fellowship, in 2013-15 I investigated ancient Greek music, as described in Song of the Sirens. The project will continue for years to come as new evidence comes to light and instruments are reconstructed.
5 April: I spoke briefly on a radio programme (on the history of vegetarianism) about Pythagoras and the basis of musical intervals – and sang a line of an Orphic Hymn at 22 mins 10.
Sep 2015: My TED lesson ‘The Ancient Origins of the Olympic Games’ has been viewed over 200,000 times. (My TED ‘Eureka’ has been going since March 2015 – see below – and been accessed more than twice as many times).
Jul 2015 In memoriam Martin West
May 2015 BBC4 Sappho: I speak at 26.30 mins about the music of Sappho’s songs.
A podcast of my talk on innovation at the Oxford Business School event (4 March) ‘Engaging with the Humanities’.
July 2014 BBC Online: 10 mysteries from ancient Greece.
Daily Mail Online article (29 Oct 2013): ‘100% accurate’ is, of course, quoted out of context.
Oct 2013 I translate into Latin a motto on a rock band T-shirt.
July 2013 My article Plato and Play in American Journal of Play, spurred by a misattribution to Plato by Sarah Palin of the idea that ‘you can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation’.
Jan 2013 Review of my book in Bryn Mawr Classical Review: ‘dazzling…fascinating…not to be missed’.
I’ve completed a book about creativity and innovation called Eureka, to be published by Princeton University Press.