Page "Michael Ventris" Paragraph 8

After the war he worked briefly in Sweden, learning enough Swedish to communicate with scholars in it.

Then he came home to complete his architectural education with honors in 1948 and settled down with Lois working as an architect.

He designed schools for the Ministry of Education.

Then he and his wife designed a home for themselves and their family.

He had two children, a son, Nikki ( 1942 – 1984 ) and a daughter, Tessa ( 1946 –).

Concurrently he stepped up his effort on LInear B, discovering finally that it was Greek, a revelation to an academic public that had more or less given up on the mysterious script.

No one, not even Ventris, suspected that it is the earliest known form of Greek.

Ventris was awarded an OBE in 1955 for " services to Mycenaean paleography.

" A few years after deciphering Linear B in 1951-1953, Ventris, who lived in Hampstead, died instantly in a late-night collision with a parked truck while driving home, aged 34.

The death was ruled accidental, though some have speculated, on no evidence except personality, that it was suicide.

He had everything to live for.

The work of his lifetime was about to come to fruition.

His adulation after his death was appropriate to his talent and contributions, although he had never been a man who would have been comfortable with it in his lifetime.