He first applied for the director's job in 2002 when Neil MacGregor stepped down.

ECONOMIST: London's National Gallery

They included the director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor, the novelist Anita Brookner and the critic Brian Sewell...

BBC: The return of the X Factor

At the prompting of its director, Neil MacGregor, the British Museum will bring the story of Babylon up to date.

ECONOMIST: Babylon

However, Neil MacGregor, the BM director, is as passionate (and as eloquent) about keeping the marbles in London as the Greeks are about getting them back.

ECONOMIST: A new tribute to the Parthenon

Museum director, Neil MacGregor, said the exhibition has been possible following a collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii, "which has meant extremely generous loans of precious objects from their collections, some that have never travelled before".

BBC: British Museum to exhibit artefacts from buried cities

Over the past two years, Perry has been let loose inside what the museum's boss Neil MacGregor calls "one of the great imaginative storehouses of the world, " free to pick and choose items for his show from its immense collection.

CNN: October 6, 2011 -- Updated 1319 GMT (2119 HKT)