Natural History Museum

From a Tyrannosaurus Rex to Charles Darwin's pet pigeons, it's time to get your David Attenborough hat on
Alex Lentati
Ailis Brennan1 December 2017

Even if the grey hairs are encroaching and those niggles niggle for longer than they used to, a trip to the Natural History Museum is guaranteed to make you feel like a veritable spring chicken. You may be getting on a bit, but you’re not quite a 3,500 milllion year old fossil, or even a 147 million year old Archaeopteryx.

In fact, of the 80 million objects in the Natural History Museum’s collection, you’re probably younger than the vast majority of them. The spectacular array of specimens started life as a department of the British Museum, but have been going solo now since the 1960s. The collection remains at the striking Victorian building that was built to house them in 1881, on Exhibition Road in South Kensington – that’s right, next door to the Science Museum and the V&A Museum.

For the first time in over 110 years, the much loved, 26-metre long Dippy the Diplodocus (whose skeleton cast had commanded the colossal Hintze Hall since 1905) took a holiday. He’s gone on tour around the country and has been replaced by a cast of a spectacular 25-metre-long blue whale skeleton called Hope (yes, Hope’s a bit smaller, but what’s a metre when you contemplate that Hope’s relations still swim the oceans today).

Intrepid explorers will discover the skeletons of a Dodo and one of Charles Darwin’s very own pigeons, get spooked by an allegedly cursed amethyst, take the elevator through the rotating globe in the Earth Hall, and have their socks scared off by a roaring animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex. The museum also runs a range of special exhibitions throughout the year, which in 2018 will feature the likes of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Venom: Killer and cure, Whales: Beneath the surface.

The Natural History Museum also does a good line in extracurricular fun. On the last Friday of every month, you can party into the night at the museum with food, drink and live music in the main hall until 10pm. If you still aren’t ready to go home, sleepovers – or “Dino Snores” – run for both kids (dinosaur t-shirt making and a torch-lit trail) and grown-ups (gin, monster movies and edible insect tasting).

If you’re heading to the museum in the winter months, there’s one more treat in store. Get your skates on at the museum’s famed ice rink and take a spin around the central Christmas tree – you’ve spent the day being David Attenborough, now do your best Torvill and Dean.

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