National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, March 12, 2012

One of the stars of the show in the 'Age of the Dinosaur' exhibition is the Camarasaurus. Curator and dino-expert Geoff Tresise tells us more about this herbivorous dino...

One of the stars of the show, the Camarasaurus

The largest of all dinosaurs were the sauropods, giant plant-eating herbivores.  The commonest North American sauropod was Camarasaurus and this is the form seen in the Age of the Dinosaur exhibition. 

Camarasaurus lived during the late Jurassic period 150 million years ago.  Fossils of adult and juvenile animals are found from the same localities, suggesting that, like elephants today, these dinosaurs lived and travelled in protective family groups.

When sauropod fossils were first found in the 1870s, there was considerable confusion between the bones of three forms: Camarasaurus, Apatosaurus (then known as Brontosaurus) and Diplodocus.  Only when more complete skeletons were found did it become clear that Apatosaurus was the largest and bulkiest, Diplodocus had an exceptionally long neck and tail while Camarasaurus was the smallest of the three. 

Even so, it could reach 20 metres in length and weigh an estimated 20 metric tons.  (By comparison, a large African elephant weighs less than 5 tons.)  It was only by Sauropod standards that Camarasaurus can be considered small!

Extract from Blue Funnel wages book showing Victoria Drummond as 10th engineer on Anchises (reference OA/986/1922).

This is an entry from a wages book for a voyage on the Blue Funnel vessel Anchises beginning in August 1922. It might not look significant, but it is.  This is the first voyage of Victoria Drummond, signed on as 10th Engineer and paid £12 a month.  Drummond was the first woman to qualify as a marine engineer and she managed to have a successful career at sea despite encountering prejudice and discrimination.  She was awarded the Lloyd's Bravery Medal and an MBE for heroic actions during the Second World War when her ship Bonita was bombed.  More information about her life can be found online here and the Maritime Archives & Library holds a copy of her biography.  Her pioneering life is also remembered by the Victoria Drummond Award given by Nautilus, the Merchant Navy Union, to women whose achievements boost the profile of women at sea. 

This Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 March 2012 from 11am – 4pm, William Brown Street will come alive with Historical Happenings. The Victorian street will be transformed into a time machine where visitors will be greeted by figures from the past, inspired by Horrible Histories on at the Liverpool Empire.

At World Museum families can get involved with free hands on activities including Saxon helmet making, flint knapping, heraldic shield making, as well as a trail around the medieval streets of Liverpool.  Visitors can watch a medieval falconer or listen to the ancient sounds of the Gold Lyre of Ur, a replica of a 4,500 year old instrument. There will also be a  chance to meet and chat with Ancient Romans, Greeks, Vikings and an English longbowman.

Meanwhile, at the top of William Brown Street, the Walker Art Gallery will be hosting a weekend of activities dedicated to the Tudors. Home to one of the most famous paintings of Henry VIII, the gallery will be Tudor-tastic with mask making and dressing up. There will also be a Tudor painting demonstration to find out how paintings were made 500 years ago, as well as an opportunity to make your own portrait of King Henry VIII.  

We have teamed up with the Empire to offer two families the chance to win a family ticket for the show at 11am on Sunday 11 March. To win simply let us know how many wives Henry VIII had. Send your answers to press@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.

Check the website for more information on the fun family activities at Walker Art Gallery and World Museum that weekend.

A little time traveller gets into the spirit of things. (c) Mark McNulty

Discover the methods and materials used by Hans Holbein's in his portrait of Henry VIII.

Some of you may remember the John Moores Painting Prize 2010 exhibitor, Sigrid Holmwood. She came to the gallery, during the run of the exhibition to discuss her work, 'Butchering a Pig'.

This weekend Sigrid is back at the Walker Art Gallery for a special weekend of all things Tudor. On Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 March 2012 between 11am and 3pm, she will be giving demonstrations and revealing traditional methods and materials she uses to hand-make her own paints.

Sigrid, who is also a Tudor re-enactor, will discuss the role of natural materials before advances in chemistry made synthetic colours popular. Discussing how clays and vegetables taken directly from earth were ground by hand with linseed oil, she also reveals which colours are the most volatile and even deadly for artists to produce themsleves 

The demonstration explores the techniques used by sixteenth century artists such as Hans Holbein in his famous portrait of Henry Vlll, on display at the gallery.

It is just one part of an action-packed weekend inspired by Horrible Histories at the Liverpool Empire. We have teamed up with the Empire to offer two families the chance to win a family ticket for the show at 11am on Sunday 11 March. To win simply let us know how many wives Henry VIII had. Send your answers to press@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk by noon on Wednesday 7 March.

Check the website for more information on the fun family activities at Walker Art Gallery and World Museum that weekend.

HMS Liverpool leaving the Mersey for the last time.

It's lovely down by the Mersey today, as long as you can avoid the cold wind.  The crew of HMS Liverpool were braving the wind as they stood on deck during the ship's final voyage down the river this morning.  We took this photograph from the window of the Maritime Archives & Library as HMS Liverpool, built in Birkenhead by Cammel Lairds, headed to Portsmouth for decommissioning.  It was a sad moment, but we were pleased to see that, like us, many people stopped to pay their respects. 

It's planet-hunting time! Here's John Moran from the planetarium to tell us what to look out for this month...

During March there will be more planets on view that you can shake a reflecting telescope at! Even if you have an obstructed view of part of the sky there will still be a planet or two to look at in the part of the sky that you can see.

At around 9pm we will still have Venus shining bright in the extreme west of the sky; in the south there is Jupiter, south-east there is Mars and finally in the east we have Saturn. If that doesn't get you excited then nothing will. It's at times like this that I wish I had a telescope with 'go-to technology' - just press a button and it finds your target instantly. Plus, you can also hook it up to a laptop. Sounds brill doesn’t it? 

Planetary conjunction with Venus and Jupiter. Image courtesy of Peter Vandevelde from the astronomie.be website.

On the 13 March we have a planetary conjunction with Venus and Jupiter. This is when two or more planets come very close together in the sky from our viewpoint, at which point they will be less than the width of a full moon apart. So, if you look through a telescope or binoculars they will be in the same field of view as each other. Try and notice from now on these two planets as they draw ever closer to each other.

Michael Parkinson's Billy Fury show is at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton for one night only on Sunday 1 April 2012.

We have five pairs of tickets up for grabs so all you need to do is answer this question: Whose favourite hat is next to Billy Fury's first guitar in the Liverpool Sound music exhibition in the Wondrous Place gallery of the Museum of Liverpool?

The Billy Fury statue close to the Museum of Liverpool on the city's waterfront

Email your answer, using this contact form.

Competition closes Sunday 25 March 2012.

Tickets are £12-50 and on sale at the Floral Pavilion's Box office or telephone 0151 666 0000 or via the Floral Pavillion website.

Good luck!

The BBC visited the Titanic, Lusitania and Forgotten Empress gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum this week and interviewed Ian Murphy, curator of Maritime History and Deputy Director of the Merseyside Maritime Museum. They were filming the Harland & Wolff builders’ model of Titanic which is a permanent feature of the gallery.

This year is an important one for Titanic which sank 100 years ago in April 1912. This unique six metre long model was built between 1910-11and has a very interesting history. The model was altered many times over the years by Harland & Wolff and it has represented all White Star Olympic Class liners: - Olympic, Titanic and Britannic.

It was first constructed to represent Olympic and Titanic. After Titanic sank in 1912 the model was altered and extra life boats were added when it represented Britannic. Sadly Britannic hit a mine in 1916 and sank during the First World War. The model was then changed again to represent Olympic.

Look out for the Titanic model on the BBC news in April. The new exhibition Titanic and Liverpool: The untold story opens 30th March 2012.

Bye for now.

A picture of Grace Brown taken in September 2011 © Lee Karen Stow

It is with great sadness that I tell you that Grace Brown, the head of the Sierra Leone women’s boxing team has passed away. She was 43.

Grace is featured in the exhibition ‘42’ Women of Sierra Leone at the International Slavery Museum, a display of work by photojournalist Lee Karen Stow. The exhibition documents the lives of women living in West Africa where women’s life expectancy is in the mid 40s.

Despite the obstacles, Grace and her female boxers had a dream of reaching London 2012 when, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the ban on women's amateur boxing will be lifted.

Sadly, and frustratingly, a lack of in-country sponsorship and support meant the women were not able to try for the early qualifying rounds in order to have a decent chance of reaching the Olympics.

At the same time, Grace fell seriously ill. She underwent a mastectomy and suffered a stroke. She became housebound, unable to train and box, and relied on the power of prayer to ease the pain.

In September 2011, Grace allowed Lee to photograph her, at her home, surrounded by her team mates (picture above). She raised a defiant fist and said quietly 'Gold', determined for her team one day to reach the Olympics and bring home the Gold medal.

Richard Benjamin, head of the International Slavery Museum says:

“I was deeply saddened to hear that Grace Brown, head of the Sierra Leone women's boxing team, who is featured in our current 42 exhibition, has passed away at the age of 43. 
 
“This poignant exhibition shows that even though life expectancy for women in Sierra Leone is in the mid-40s - the spirit, achievements and indeed hope of many women shine through on a daily basis.   Grace was one such woman and our thoughts go out to her friends and family."

Lee’s aim for the exhibition is to show that these women, and women in similar circumstances, should be given the right to live, not die and follow their dreams and ambitions without being held back.

In response to Grace’s death Lee raises the question:

“How many talented and committed athletes are being ignored and not given the chance to pursue their dreams, purely because of their circumstances and geographical locations?”.

To see more pictures of Grace click here and to find out more about the exhibition click here.  

Here's one of our Education Demonstrators, Angelica Vanasse, to tell us about some of the fun family events that have been happening at Sudley House...

A Noah's Ark wall mural made during the event.

Sudley House came alive with children and families and toys galore on last month with our 'Toy Stories' event.  Members of the education, communities and visitors teams from the Walker Art Gallery and Sudley House were on hand to deliver a fantastic range of toy-tastic activities inspired by the Victorian toys in the Sudley House collection.  

We made a Noah’s Ark wall mural (the only toy that Victorian children could play with on a Sunday) with creatures great and small, along with peg dolls and colourful spinning tops.  We also had some larger-than-life games to play with (Connect Four, anyone?) and plenty of toy-rific tales being told by our storyteller in residence, Ros. Later, everyone went on the lookout for runaway toys during a delightfully interactive toy hunt.  

The huge dining room table downstairs was laid out for colouring and was quite a grand setting for getting creative! We saw lots of families come in on the day and get involved and everyone left with a crafty little collection of handmade toys.  Thanks to all who attended and helped to make this day such a great success! 

For info on other upcoming events be sure to check our what's on listings.