Historian Mary Beard is to fund scholarships for two disadvantaged students to study classics at Cambridge University, as a "retirement present".

The Cambridge professor is stepping down next year after almost 40 years of teaching and research.

She described the £80,000 donation as her "payback time".

"I am very conscious of what I've gained from classics, no-one from my family had a university degree," said Dame Mary.

The historian and television presenter wants to help widen the reach of classics as a subject, so it's not "just for posh people who've done Latin for ages".

Most people approaching retirement might expect the present to be heading in their direction, but Dame Mary - no stranger to doing things her own way - wants to mark her departure with her own donation.

Her BBC television series, such as Julius Caesar Revealed and Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit, have brought ancient history to a wider, modern audience.

Dame Mary said her own interest in classics was through an early enthusiasm for archaeology, and she remembers the excitement of finding a Roman coin and "holding the past".

One of her earliest memories, she said, was being taken by her mother to the British Museum as a small child, and an attendant being kind enough to open a display case to let her hold a piece of ancient Egyptian carbonised cake.

She now wants to help open up classics for another generation of young people.

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Mary Beard's retirement present to fund students(https://www.bbc.com/news/education-57102489)