Neil MacGregor
Neil MacGregor was born in Glasgow to two doctors and developed his passion for art at age nine after viewing a Dalí painting.
He studied modern languages at Oxford, philosophy in Paris, and law at Edinburgh before pursuing art history at the Courtauld Institute, where Anthony Blunt called him his most brilliant pupil.
MacGregor directed the National Gallery from 1987, earning the nickname "Saint Neil," before becoming British Museum director in 2002.
He presented several BBC series on art and created the acclaimed radio program A History of the World in 100 Objects in 2010.
He declined a knighthood in 1999 but received the Order of Merit in 2010.
