Megalosaurus skeleton, World Museum Liverpool, England. Found in southern England

The first dinosaur to be named was Megalosaurus in 1824, but it took another 18 years for Sir Richard Owen, at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, to suggest re-grouping the handful of antidiluvian beasts so far discovered into a single tribe of giant reptiles.

Since then, dinosaurs have established themselves as the most famous of fossils, the story of their life and dramatic death retold again and again in novels, films, documentaries and animations.

But how can we be sure what they looked like? And what if we’ve got it all wrong?

A sculpture of a dinosaur and sheeps (10 meters long and 4 meters tall) as criticism of the church/pope/WJT

Next week in Newcastle at the British Science Festival (the new title for the BAAS Richard Owen spoke at all those years ago), we’re holding an event to discuss the challenges and opportunities of reimagining dinosaurs. Featuring palaeontologists Phil Manning and Joanna Wright, Framestore’s Mike Milne, one of the original creators of ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’, and Sky TV’s Vickey Coules and Steve Nicholls, we’ll discuss how scientists and animators work together to bring dinosaurs back to life, and what’s next for dino reanimation!

We’d love you to join us between 10am and 11.30am, in the Spence Watson Lecture Theatre, Newcastle University. Find out more on the festival’s website.