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Back Issues
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The Architects' Journal
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September 11, 2008
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Copyright informationCopyright EMAP Architecture Sep 11, 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Michael Ventris was a linguist extraordinaire whose talents extended to architecture, says Steve Parnell
Polymath and scholar Michael Ventris (1922-1956) graduated from the Architectural Association (AA) in 1948 (see Back Issues, AJ 03.07.08), but his involvement with architecture was brief. He is better remembered as the man who deciphered Linear B - an early form of Greek script used for writing Mycenaean, which predated the Greek alphabet by several centuries.
Ventris could speak five languages by the age of eight, and throughout his life he was able to pick new ones up in a matter of months. When he travelled with his friends from the AA - Oliver Cox and Graeme Shankland - he amazed ...