Natural History Museum

When it comes to celebrity skeletons, size matters – but it isn’t everything. Consider Dippy, the diplodocus who presided over the Natural History Museum’s Hintze Hall for years before being forcibly retired. His mahoosive replacement Hope the blue whale is bigger, for sure, but she’s never won hearts like Dippy.  Now there’s a new guy in the house who’s bigger than both of them. Patagotitan mayorum is a titanosaur whose giant thigh-bone was discovered poking out of the ground by an Argentinian rancher in 2010. Paleontologists spent a decade reconstructing patagotitan’s 37-metre skeleton out of the bones of six related beasts found nearby. The result has now been cast in stunning detail and shipped to London to wow museum-goers in a ticketed exhibition dedicated to the mighty beast. ‘Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur’ shows the Natural History Museum at its colossal best. It’s groundbreaking: this is the first European outing for a record-smashing, (relatively) recently discovered titan of the Cretaceous period. It’s diligently curated and tastefully presented: the in-house dino experts really know their bones. And it’s perfectly kid-friendly: this place bleeps more families through its bodyscanners every day than Gatwick in July; it has edutainment down.  The show opens with the femur fossil, a man-sized hunk of bone which looks wonderfully pitted and strange housed in its glass showcase. It then takes you through the life and times of Patagotitan with the aid of artf

If a big, imposing Gothic revival museum full of giant animal skeletons sounds like the perfect place to celebrate the spookiest holiday of the year, then head to the Natural History Museum’s Halloween party this October 31. Guests are encouraged to don their best fancy dress – anyone know where we can find a blue whale costume? – for the after-hours knees-up, where you can bust some moves at a silent disco in the spectacular Hintze Hall, explore the museum’s galleries after dark and check out the current Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. There are also two special tours you can join on the evening for an additional fee; a Spooky Tour around the museum’s ‘all-time strangest specimens’, or the Tank Room Tour, taking you round ‘jars upon jars containing specimens from across the world preserved in alcohol’. Gross!