A look back on Dippy on Tour in the summer of 2018

Dinosaur bones, or rather recreations in a cast. Dippy from the Natural History Museum in London started going on a tour of UK museums, and was at the Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in the summer of 2018. After my June 2018 visit, it got me to visit Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham for more dinosaur skeletons. Was also a floral style trail around.

Dippy on Tour

Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

26th May to 9th September 2018

 

Dippy on Tour was a touring exhibition starting in 2018 at the various City museums around the country. It was at BM & AG in the Gas Hall in the dates above.

Dippy had been at the Natural History Museum in London from 1905, until 2017 when it went on a nationwide tour!

 

I booked my ticket online in advance and went on the 3rd June 2018. Got in earlier than my time and spent about 20 to 30 minutes here. Was plenty of families and kids there at the time. There were other exhibits in here. In this post we will mainly look at Dippy the Diplodocus and other full dinosaur skeletons in Birmingham.

 

This was my first view of Dippy!

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Side view of the skull.

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The tail from the back of the Gas Hall.

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Another view from the front, from the left side this time.

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Trying to get Dippy with the height of the ceiling in the Gas Hall.

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Front view of Dippy's skull.

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This was from a panoramic of Dippy in the Gas Hall.

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One more view of Dippy with the Gas Hall ceiling.

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Before Birmingham, Dippy was at a museum in Dorchester. After Birmingham, Dippy went to: Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle upon Tyne and Cardiff. Dippy is now in Rochdale (but I assume that the museum is closed now due to the lock down / pandemic period we are in). Dippy was next scheduled to go to Norwich.

 

Co-inciding with Dippy being at the Gas Hall was this Dippy on Tour Floral Trail around the City Centre during the summer of 2018. There was ten topiary dinosaurs to find.

Seen on the High Street outside of Marks & Spencer was this Allosaurus. A few weeks later I saw a full size Allosaurus skeleton at the Lapworth Museum of Geology (see further down the post for the photos). Sponsor was Retail BID Birmingham.

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Triceratops seen in Rotunda Square between New Street and High Street. Sponsor was Retail BID Birmingham.

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On New Street not far from the Apple building and HSBC UK was this T-Rex (and near the Midland Metro line to Grand Central Tram Stop). Retail BID Birmingham was the sponsor.

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Further up New Street was this Stegosaurus opposite Cashino and Pret a Manger. Retail BID Birmingham was the sponsor.

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Seen in Victoria Square during June 2018 for Dippy on Tour was the star of the shop the Diplodocus. At this time Council workmen were replanting plants around Dippy, so didn't get a clear view of her. Retail BID Birmingham was the sponsor.

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One more indirect view of the Diplodocus in August 2018 when this band was playing in front of her. They were called Inpulse Percussion. At the time groups for the Transplant Games were near the top of Victoria Square. I never did get this one on it's own.

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Back to June 2018 and we are now in the Great Western Arcade for Dippy on Tour. This is the Coelophysis. Retaiil BID Birmingham was the sponsor.

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Seen at the bottom of Corporation Street opposite what was then a Vodafone store on the corner of New Street (opposite HSBC UK) was this Velociraptor. Near the Midland Metro line to Grand Central Tram Stop.

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The last outdoors dinosaur was the Brachiosaurus outside of The Mailbox. Retail BID Birmingham was the sponsor.

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The last two were a bit harder to find. The second T-Rex was in the childrens toys section on the bottom floor at Selfridges in the Bullring. Thank you to Shopping in Birmingham on Twitter who at the time gave me advice of where to find them. Much appreciated if you are reading this!

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The last dinosaur I needed to find was inside of John Lewis Birmingham. The second Stegosaurus. This one was a few floors up near the cushions and in an awkward position (near the windows overlooking the escalators) to get a photo of (on my then smartphone camera). Trail complete.

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Lapworth Museum of Geology, University of Birmingham

Just over 2 weeks later after seeing Dippy at the Gas Hall (the middle of June 2018), I headed to the University of Birmingham to see the dinosaur skeletons and bones in the Lapworth Museum of Geology. Located in the red brick Quadrangle, near Ring Road South.

This is a skeleton of a Allosaurus (not a T-Rex as I once thought). There was also rocks and minerals in this museum.

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Full side view of the Allosaurus, towards all the rocks in the collection.

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Zoom in to the skull of the Allosaurus.

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From the other side, there was a first floor area with a balcony view. Not very busy when I visited.

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The Allosaurus was standing on this white table with glass walls around it. I'm sure I once saw a T-Rex skeleton at BM & AG back in the 1990s (whatever happened to it). Then again as a child I remember queuing to get into the Gas Hall for a dinosaur exhibition (around the time Jurassic Park first came out, so around 1993, early 1990s).

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The other full dinosaur skeleton at the Lapworth Museum of Geology was this Pteranodon hanging from the ceiling.

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A close up view of the Pteranodon's skull and body.

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View from the back of the Pteranodon and the Allosaurus.

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Side view of the Pteranodon's skull from the first floor balcony area in the museum. The museum was quite small, I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Once I saw what I wanted to see I left. And I wasn't too interested in the rock samples. There was also skulls in the museums without the bodies.

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Bonus photos to finish off this post. During Summer in Southside in the middle of July 2018. Was this Triceratops on Wheels on Inge Street outside of the Birmingham Hippodrome and not far from The Arcadian. Perhaps inspired by that summers Dippy on Tour (which was still on at the time).

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A close up of the Triceratops skull. Was also another set of bones (not real of course) in a pram to the right.

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Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

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Birmingham We Are People with Passion award winner 2020