Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Natural Histories

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.

Nature that has got under our skin and profoundly impacted human culture and society across our history.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Natural Histories: Dinosaurs

natural-histories_dinosaur_280715_e_greg-smith.jpg

Dinosaurs

BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories, Dinosaurs

Brett Westwood explores how dinosaurs influence our stories, films and science. From 2015

Brett Westwood explores how these ancient beasts are influencing our stories, films and science. From 2015

Our collective imaginations go wild at the thought of lumbering, ferocious beasts that were so powerful they once ruled the earth. T Rex scares us witless and diplodocus was an astonishing creature of breath taking proportions. It is no wonder then that dinosaur books, especially for children, appeared in the early nineteenth century and are still flying of the shelves today.

Dinosaur exhibitions always draw throngs of people.  From the Crystal Palace dinosaurs in London built in the mid 19th Century to the wonderful animatronic models in today's modern museums, these ancient beasts speak to us of a different planet earth, lost in deep time, gone for ever. Yet they have left us bones and teeth that are still revealing amazing facts.  Recent science shows most dinosaurs were not cold bloodied reptiles but warm blooded, feathered and colourful. They lived for 160 million years, occupying a warm humid planet rich in vegetation.

When we use the world 'dinosaur' we mean it as a derogatory term for someone who can’t adapt but nothing could be further from the truth. These were supreme rulers that were brought down by an Act of God that defies imagination.  So huge was the impact of the meteorite that the earth went cold and dark. Dinosaurs though will never leave us, we will take them with us into the future, in our stories, films and science and we will learn from their old bones ever more details about life on earth, and how even the most successful creatures on earth are, in reality, so fragile.

Originally broadcast in a longer form 28th July 2015
Original producer : Sarah Pitt

Archive Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol : Andrew Dawes

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Natural Histories

Dinosaurs

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4