Portrait of Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1890 - 1976), archaeologist and broadcaster, seated at his desk in the British Academy. Through the medium of television, Wheeler succeeded in bringing the meaning of archaeology and a knowledge of the antique to a very wide public and in so doing became one of TV's brightest stars. He was a brigadier in the Salerno landings in 1943 and won the M.C. in 1917 as a battery commander, and was President of the Society of Antiquaries and Secretary of the British Academy. The Roman civilization was his particular subject, and he was Professor of Archaeology of the Roman Provinces in the University of London until 1955.