Super Natural

Last week I rounded off my visit to the Oxford Literary Festival (more pics here) with a talk given by Richard Fortey about the story behind the work of the Natural History Museum.

Dry Store Room No 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum is a delightful book exploring the back-office workings of one of the UK’s most famous institutions. Fortey was for many years the Museum’s ‘Trilobyte Man’ which is not only a great sounding Super Hero name, but allowed Fortey access to the many weird and wonderful treasures that the Museum has to offer.

But it wasn’t just the rare books from James Cook’s expeditions or the thousands of specimens accrued in the drawers and cupboards that Fortey illustrated, he talked about the immense importance of the scientific work carried out by the Museum. Nomenclature, the naming of new specimens, produces enough amusing stories on its own (slime eating bugs named after the Bush administration for example), but this cataloguing is vital for conservation, environmental and medical research right across the world.

Fortey himself is of course extremely knowledgeable and is able to tell anecdotes relating to the Museum at the drop of a hat, it’s a shame he couldn’t be allocated further time at the Oxford talk, as it was clear he had more to say, with more stories to tell.

So if you want to read about the discovery of lost Mozart masterpieces, cursed gemstones and how a man with an interest in flies saved the world then I thoroughly recommend giving Dry Store Room No. 1 a try.