Jurassic Brum

The question of whether Tyrannosaurus Rex was a raptor, a scavenger or a bit of both is not one that has kept people lying awake for at least sixty million years. It is however, interesting enough for a touring exhibition to be mounted exploring the problem. The show started at the Natural History Museum in London and is appearing at the Gas Rooms in Birmingham until September. I went along with little hope of resolving the problem, but with he expectation of seeing some nifty animatronics.
I wasn't disappointed.  I suspect that the show has little to do with palaeontology and a great deal to with raking in funds for the museums involved. The main attendees seemed to be hundreds of little kids accompanied by their parents and grandparents (the latter at £5.00 per head).
Once you get inside the twilit showroom (why must these exhibitions always be lit like the London Dungeon?) there is plenty to see: skeletons, fossil casts, videos and of course the animatronic monsters, which twitch, growl and jerk about like the over sized clockwork that they are. The children were enraptured, hovering on that emotional cusp between fear and excitement which they seem to enjoy so much. As we left the show we were asked to vote on the three options with which I began this account. The majority of visitors supported the 'a bit of both' theory.
Much ado about nothing, but great fun all the same.