Campaign launched to bring world famous Dippy the Diplodocus to Peterborough

A roar-some campaign has been launched to bring the world famous Dippy ‘skeleton’ to Peterborough.

The plaster-of-Paris cast of a diplodocus skeleton has wowed families at its original home at the Natural History Museum in London for decades

But since it was replaced by a skeleton of a whale – named Hope – in 2017, Dippy has been on tour, visiting places including Cardiff, Newcastle and Norwich.

While Dippy is back at the Natural History Museum now, there are plans for the skeleton to go back on tour next year – and a campaign has been launched to take him shopping by putting a giant exhibition on at Queensgate.

The bid has been put together by Peterborough Museum and the shopping centre.

Peterborough MP Paul Bristow said: “I have been working with Peterborough Museum on an exciting bid to bring Dippy to Queensgate - as he starts another nation wide tour next year

“I am really impressed with the bid put together by our local museum to get Dippy into Queensgate. It would bring people into our City Centre, inspire young people and others, and revive interest in natural history.

“These things are definitely worth a shot - I am 100% behind the effort.”

Dinosaurs have already returned to Peterborough – with a Natural History Museum exhibition about T-Rex currently drawing large crowds at Peterborough Cathedral.

Dippy – which has 292 bones and is 85ft long, and was created in 1905 – is one of a number of replicas of the diplodocus skeleton, with the ‘real’ bones now located at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

While on tour across the eight venues in the UK, Dippy was seen by more than two million people, and gave a boost to local economies of more than £35 million.

It has also been the star of a Disney feature film, ‘One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing.’

Diplodocus lived in the Jurassic era, about 155 million years ago, and their fossils have mainly been found in North America.

The Peterborough Telegraph has contacted Peterborough Museum and Queensgate for comment about the campaign to bring Dippy to Peterborough.