1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 2: This episode is coming out on New Year's Eve, and 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 2: so we're taking a look at a fun New Year's 6 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 2: Eve from the past. It's a dinner party that took 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 2: place on New Year's Eve in eighteen fifty three inside 8 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 2: a life sized sculpture of an Iguanadon, or, to be 9 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 2: more accurate, a life size mold of an Iguanadon, which 10 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 2: was one step in the process of making the final sculpture. 11 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 2: They were still in an Iguanadon though, that's the important part. 12 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 2: This Iguanadon sculpture was being made for London's Crystal Palace Park, 13 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 2: and we have an episode on the Crystal Palace that 14 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 2: was re released as a Saturday Classic on January thirtieth, 15 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. The Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph 16 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 2: Paxton for the Great Exhibition that was held in Hyde 17 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 2: Park in London in eighteen fifty one. The Crystal Palace 18 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 2: was made from cast iron and glass like an enormous greenhouse, 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 2: and it served as an Exhibit Hall. The Great Exhibition 20 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 2: ran for six months from May to October of eighteen 21 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 2: fifty one, and Parliament had ordered that the Crystal Palace 22 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 2: had to be removed from Hyde Park. After it was over, 23 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 2: Paxton established the Crystal Palace Company under a Royal Charter 24 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 2: and found donors to help pay to deconstruct, move and 25 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 2: rebuild the palace and buy a location for it to 26 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 2: be moved to. That location was on Sydenham Hill in 27 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 2: southeast London, on the grounds of a former mansion called 28 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 2: Penge Place. That mansion had only been about twenty years 29 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 2: old and it was demolished for the relocation of the 30 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 2: Crystal Palace. Crews started reassembling the Crystal Palace in this 31 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 2: new location in August of eighteen fifty ten, and the. 32 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: Resulting Crystal Palace Park has been described as the world's 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: first amusement park. It was a two hundred acre site 34 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: that would ultimately have extensive gardens, fountains, sculptures and the like. 35 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: The Crystal Palace itself would also have wings of artwork 36 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: and artifacts, and an assortment of exhibits on industry. Its 37 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: position on a hilltop would give it a commanding view 38 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: of the area around it, while also making it visible 39 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: from miles away, and this whole thing was meant to 40 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: be emblematic of Victorian cultural and industrial progress. Work on 41 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: all of this was going on when the dinner happened, 42 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: and a train station and other infrastructure were also being 43 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: built to accommodate the park's visitors. The Crystal Palace Company 44 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: also commissioned a collection of sculptures of prehistoric animals sometimes 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: called antidiluvian monsters, meaning monsters from before the biblical flood 46 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: in the Book of Genesis. These animals were to be 47 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: arranged on and around islands in a man made lake 48 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: in the park. The lake exhibit was supposed to be 49 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: both fun and educational. In the words of paleontologist and 50 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: comparative anatomist Richard Owen in the work Geology and Inhabitants 51 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: of the Extinct Animals and Plants of Each Stratum, which 52 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: was a guide to this outdoor exhibit, quote, the object 53 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: of the islands and the geological lake is to demonstrate 54 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: the order of succession or superposition of these layers or strata, 55 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: and to exhibit restored in form and bulk as when 56 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: they lived. The most remarkable and characteristic of the extinct 57 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: animals and plants of each stratum. In other words, if 58 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: you walked the path along these islands, it would be 59 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: like walking through a geological timeline illustrated with life sized, 60 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: three dimensional examples. The artist who was commissioned to create 61 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: these sculptures was Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, who usually went by 62 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: the name Waterhouse Hawkins or b. Waterhouse Hawkins. He was 63 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: born in London on February eighth, eighteen oh seven, to 64 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: Thomas and Luisa Anna Waterhouse Hawkins, and he may get 65 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: his own episode at some point because some of his 66 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: life story is wild. Case in point, he had two wives, 67 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: Mary who he married in eighteen twenty six, and Luisa, 68 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 1: who he married ten years later. While he was still 69 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: married to Mary and years after today's story takes place, 70 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: there was also a whole situation involving New York's Tammany 71 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: Hall political machine and the destruction of all of the 72 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: models that Waterhouse had made for dinosaur dioramas that were 73 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: supposed to go in Central Park. 74 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 2: As for what's actually relevant to today's episode, Hawkins was 75 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 2: an artist and his specialty was natural history. His paintings 76 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 2: of animals had been displayed in places like the Royal 77 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 2: Academy and the British Institution, and he had access to 78 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 2: a lot of collections and resources that he could use 79 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 2: to research his art. He also illustrated multiple other people's 80 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 2: scientific works, including Charles Darwin's The Zoology of the Voyage 81 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 2: of the HMS Beagle. Hawkins was a fellow in the 82 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 2: Linnaean Society and the Geological Society, and a member of 83 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 2: the Society of Arts, so this man had a lot 84 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 2: of credentials, and he had also been an exhibitor and 85 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 2: assistant superintendent of the Great Exhibition. These sculptures are known 86 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 2: as the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs today, but for the most 87 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 2: part they're not dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were reptiles that lived on land. Yes, 88 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: we absolutely know that birds evolved from dinosaurs, but we 89 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,559 Speaker 2: are talking about the ones that are extinct today. These 90 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 2: statues include marine reptiles like ichthiosaurs and a plesiosaur, a, 91 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 2: flying pterosaur, amphibians, and several mammals like Megatherium or giant 92 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 2: slav Ziphodon which looks something like a camel, and Megalosceris 93 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 2: or the Irish elk, which at the time was known 94 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 2: as service hibernicus. The sculptures of these and other extinct 95 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 2: animals significantly outnumber the ones of true dinosaurs, of which 96 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 2: there are only three Megalosaurus, Hyliosaurus, and two different versions 97 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 2: of Aguanodon. Let me tell you what I wrote that paragraph. 98 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 2: I spent a very long time staring at the names 99 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 2: Megalosaurus and Megalosaurus, like they just felt like the same 100 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 2: word to me. They're not spelled exactly the same. They're 101 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 2: very similar. Those three dinosaurs. While there are only three 102 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 2: of them, they are important. People who live near fossils 103 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 2: have been aware of their existence for millennia, but these 104 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 2: are the only three dinosaurs that had been scientifically described 105 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 2: when Hawkins started working on these sculptures. They are also 106 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,919 Speaker 2: the three animals that prompted Richard Owen to coin the 107 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 2: word dinosaur in the first place. People had found and 108 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 2: studied the fossilized remains of a lot of large extinct 109 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 2: animals by the nineteenth century, and Owen saw these three 110 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 2: in particular as having some traits in common, including their 111 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 2: sacral anatomy. He published an article titled Report on British 112 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 2: Fossil Reptiles that grouped them together in a new clade 113 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 2: called Dinosauria in eighteen forty two. At the same time, 114 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 2: there was some disagreement about the specifics of these animals 115 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 2: anatomy and physiology. That's understandable considering that this was a 116 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 2: brand new scientific category and a lot of the fossils 117 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 2: that had been unearthed were far from complete. What's most 118 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 2: relevant to today's episode is that there were two competing 119 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 2: versions of what an iguanadon looked like. Today, the basic 120 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 2: definition of a dinosaur includes that they had an erect 121 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 2: posture with their legs under their bodies, but in the 122 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 2: mid nineteenth century, some interpretation of the iguanodon had its 123 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 2: legs out to the side, were like a crocodile. The 124 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 2: two iguanodon sculptures that Hawkins created for the Crystal Palace 125 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 2: Gardens reflect these two different interpretations. One of them is 126 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 2: standing upright on four straight, stocky legs, and the other 127 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 2: looks like a giant lizard with a more sprawled out posture. 128 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 2: Both of them have a small horn on their nose, 129 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 2: which later fossil discoveries revealed was really part of the 130 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,599 Speaker 2: animal's thumb. Beyond these two competing versions of the iguanadon, 131 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 2: there were more personal disagreements among some of the scientists 132 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 2: who discovered and wrote about these specimens, although really disagreement 133 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 2: is putting it generously. Gideon Mantel is credited with two 134 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 2: of the first three dinosaur discoveries, Iguanadon in eighteen twenty 135 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 2: two and Hyliosaurus in eighteen two. Gideon's wife, Mary Anne, 136 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 2: was a huge part of his work, including creating hundreds 137 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 2: of lithographs to illustrate his books, and she is generally 138 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 2: recognized as being the person who found the fossilized teeth 139 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 2: that Gideon later named Iguanadon for their resemblance to giant 140 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 2: iguana teeth. Gideon Mantel discovered a whole array of vertebrate 141 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 2: and invertebrate fossils. He wrote twelve different books, most of 142 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 2: which were about geology and fossils, and he was a 143 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 2: member of the Royal Society and the Geological Society of London. 144 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 2: He also won a whole series of UK and international 145 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 2: awards for his work. But Richard Owen, who had a 146 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 2: reputation for being a hateful, petty person, tried to dismiss 147 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,439 Speaker 2: Mantel's work and take credit for some of his discoveries. 148 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 2: For example, Owen tried to give himself and zoologist George 149 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 2: Cuvier the credit for the iguanadon discovery. Cuvier was one 150 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 2: of the people Mantel had talked to about the iguanadon 151 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 2: teeth when he was trying to figure out what they were. 152 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 2: Owen's writings often implied that Mantel did not know what 153 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 2: he was talking about, and their speculation that Owen worked 154 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 2: behind the scenes to keep Mantel's papers from being published. 155 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 2: Mantel once said of Owen that it was a pity 156 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 2: that quote a man so talented should be so dastardly 157 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 2: and envious. 158 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: By the time Hawkins started working on these sculptures, Mantel 159 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: had died, possibly due to an overdose of the opium 160 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: he was taking to try to manage a very painful 161 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: spinal condition. Owen's name, though. 162 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 2: Had become synonymous with dinosaurs, and he was the one 163 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 2: who provided a lot of the scientific feedback on hawkins 164 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 2: sculpture designs. 165 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: We will get to more on that. After a sponsor break. 166 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 2: Waterhouse, Hawkins had a workshop in a shed on the 167 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 2: grounds of the Crystal Palace gardens, and that's where he 168 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 2: worked on the enormous sculptures that he had been commissioned 169 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 2: to create for the park. In the words of Rutlige's 170 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 2: Guide to the Crystal Palace and Park at sydonym with 171 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 2: descriptions of the principal works of science and art, and 172 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 2: of the terraces, fountains, geological formations and restoration of extinct 173 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 2: animals therein exhibited. 174 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,559 Speaker 1: This workshop was quote at. 175 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 2: The lower end of the park, in a rude and 176 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 2: temporary wooden building, almost inaccessible for deep ruts and acres 177 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 2: of swamp and mud, a miniature Sirbonian bog. 178 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: Hawkins' starting point was research, learning everything that he could 179 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 1: about the anatomy of each extinct animal. Then, in his words, quote, 180 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: I made my sketch models to scale either a sixth 181 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: or twelfth of the natural size. Designing such attitudes as 182 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 1: my long eCos with the recent and living forms of 183 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: the animal kingdom, enabled me to adapt to the extinct 184 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: species I was endeavoring to restore. These sketch models. I 185 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: submitted in all instances to the criticism of Professor Owen, who, 186 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: with his great knowledge and profound learning, most liberally aided 187 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:19,479 Speaker 1: me in every difficulty. 188 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 2: Once Owen had approved this model, Hawkins had to figure 189 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 2: out how to translate that into a life sized mold 190 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:32,319 Speaker 2: and a finished statue that could each withstand their own weight. 191 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 2: Again in his words quote, some of these models contained 192 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 2: thirty tons of clay, which had to be supported on 193 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 2: four legs, as their natural history characteristics would not allow 194 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 2: of my having recourse to any of the expedients for 195 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:52,200 Speaker 2: support allowed to sculptors. In an ordinary case, I could 196 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,079 Speaker 2: have no trees, nor rooks, no foliage to support these 197 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 2: great bodies, which to be natural, must be fairly built 198 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,359 Speaker 2: on their four legs. In the instance of the iguanadon, 199 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 2: is not less than building a house upon four columns, 200 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 2: as the quantities of material which the standing iguanadon is 201 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 2: composed consist of four iron columns nine feet long by 202 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 2: seven inches diameter, six hundred bricks, six hundred and fifty 203 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 2: five inch half round drain tiles, nine hundred plane tiles, 204 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 2: thirty eight casks of cement, ninety casks of broken stone, 205 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 2: making a total of six hundred forty bushels of artificial stone. 206 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 2: These with one hundred feet of iron hooping and twenty 207 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,840 Speaker 2: feet of cube inch bar constitute the bones, sinews, and 208 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 2: muscles of this large model, the largest of which there 209 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 2: is any record of a casting being made. 210 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: So once he'd figured out how to make and build 211 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: the clay model, he made a plaster cast of it, 212 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: working in sections, and he used the plaster cast to 213 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 1: make the pieces of the final sculpture out of concrete, 214 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: and he would transport those pieces to their location in 215 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 1: the park to be assembled. Smaller animals or smaller pieces 216 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: of big animals were often made of solid concrete, but 217 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,839 Speaker 1: things like the large central body of the Iguanadon were 218 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: usually hollow and then filled with brickwork. Hawkins had a 219 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: team of laborers and assistants to actually do all this work, 220 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 1: but we really don't know anything about those workers. Yeah, 221 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: he gets cited continually, but there has to have been 222 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: just an army of people doing the physical work on 223 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,160 Speaker 1: all of this. This was the first time anybody had 224 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: tried to make life sized sculptures of these extinct animals, 225 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: and the process was time consuming and difficult and labor intensive. 226 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: Soon Hawkins was behind schedule. The park had also faced 227 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: an assortment of other difficulties, so when the Crystal Palace 228 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: was moved from Hyde Park, the goal had been to 229 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,479 Speaker 1: get the site open public visitors as fast as possible, 230 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,119 Speaker 1: but the project was plagued by bad weather, including ongoing 231 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: rain and high winds. As one rider put it quote, 232 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: thus far, the whole Ferry creation, like the monsters said 233 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: to be engendered by the sun on the banks of 234 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: the Nile, is struggling to extricate its limbs from elemental mud. 235 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: Everywhere it is mud mud, excepting where the mountain of 236 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: granite has already been reared, a graceful slope already turfed, 237 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: or a long train of planks bends under processions of wheelbarrows. 238 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: Do you think there was mud? There was so much mud. 239 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:45,479 Speaker 1: Apparently this affected construction at the park and the railroad 240 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: and roadways that were being built to support it, and 241 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: the planting of the gardens, the plumbing of the fountains, 242 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: basically everything about the infrastructure of this park plan. It 243 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: was all behind schedule, and it was all over budget, 244 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: including the dinosaurs. And to add to all the pressure, 245 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: the Queen was very interested in the park in its progress. 246 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: Victoria and Albert toured the park site on November eighteenth, 247 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: including a tour of Hawkins Dinosaur Workshop. All of this 248 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 1: ultimately fed into a plan to host a New Year's 249 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: Eve dinner and to serve that dinner in the mold 250 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: for the more elephant like iguanadon statue. This dinner would 251 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 1: be part public relations, part investor relations, something that could 252 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: be written about in the newspapers and stoke public interest 253 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: in the dinosaur sculptures in the park, and could help 254 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: appease the investors who were very anxious about the state 255 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: of the project and how much longer it was going 256 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: to take for everything to actually be open. In the 257 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: words of the illustrated London Daily News quote in the 258 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: mold of this colossal work of art, for as such 259 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: it must deservedly rank very high. Mister Hawkins conceived the 260 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: idea of bringing together those great names whose high position 261 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: in the science of paleontology and geology would form the 262 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: best guarantee for the severe truthfulness of his works, and 263 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,120 Speaker 1: at the same time show to the public the high 264 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: tone of criticism and knowledge which the directors of this 265 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: truly national undertaking require those officers to sustain to whom 266 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: they confide the carrying out of any important part of 267 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,679 Speaker 1: their plan, which so particularly bears on the education of 268 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: the people. Hawkins created hand drawn invitations for this dinner, 269 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,480 Speaker 1: apparently drawing them all one by one, rather than like 270 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,280 Speaker 1: making the design for one card and having copies of 271 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: that printed. There are a few different versions of this 272 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 1: that have survived until today, and they all feature an 273 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: illustration of people having dinner in the body of a 274 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: dinosaur statue that is so tall that somebody is having 275 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: to climb up a ladder to get into it. There's 276 00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: also a pterodactyl with an outstretched wing in the foreground, 277 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 1: and the inside of that wing is where the actual 278 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: text of the invitation is written. So all these. 279 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,400 Speaker 2: Designs differed from each other, but they had in common 280 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,600 Speaker 2: that there was a dinosaur with people eating in it 281 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 2: and a pterodactyl wing. For example, the invitation sent a 282 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 2: geologist to Joseph Presswitch said, quote, mister Waterhouse Hawkins requests 283 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 2: the honor of mister Joseph Prestwich's company at dinner in 284 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 2: the mold of the Iguanadon at the Crystal Palace on 285 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 2: Saturday evening, December the thirty first, at five o'clock, eighteen 286 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 2: fifty three. An answer will oblige. There's some fuzziness in 287 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 2: terms of exactly how many people were invited to this 288 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 2: dinner and how many actually showed up. Those invitations went 289 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,159 Speaker 2: out just a few days before the event, so some 290 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 2: of the invitees probably had other plans lined up. Most 291 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:57,360 Speaker 2: sources say that twenty one guests attended, in addition to Hawkins, 292 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 2: who was the host. We will get to the dinner 293 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 2: itself after a sponsor break. Most of the descriptions of 294 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 2: the New Year's Eve eighteen fifty three dinner in the 295 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,439 Speaker 2: Iguanadon Mold at Crystal Palace Park are in things like 296 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 2: newspapers and journals. Most of them contradict each other on 297 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,680 Speaker 2: at least some points. One of the go to sources 298 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,479 Speaker 2: is an illustration that appeared in the Illustrated London Daily News, 299 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 2: but that was an illustration that Waterhouse Hawkins had drawn himself. 300 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 2: He probably drew it before the dinner took place to 301 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 2: help promote the event and the park. It's not clear 302 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 2: where the Iguanadon Mold was when the dinner was held 303 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 2: in it, but it might have still been in Hawkins's 304 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,440 Speaker 2: workshop in spite of all the ruts in the mud 305 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:54,440 Speaker 2: involved getting. 306 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: To the workshop. 307 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 2: Most sources say that a tent or an awning had 308 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 2: been placed over the Iguanadon for the dinner. If that 309 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 2: dinner was held in the shed, that probably would have 310 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 2: helped the guests stay warm and dry, since. 311 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:08,439 Speaker 1: The roof was very leaky. 312 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,400 Speaker 2: According to one source, the tent was left over from 313 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 2: a birthday party that Hawkins had hosted for one of 314 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 2: his daughters. In the words of Routledge's Guide to the 315 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 2: Crystal Palace in Park Quote, an awning of pink and 316 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 2: white drapery was raised above the novel banqueting hall, and 317 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:31,159 Speaker 2: small banners bearing the names of Cony, Bear, Buckland, Forbes, Owen, 318 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 2: Mantel and other well known geologists gave character and interest 319 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 2: to the scene. Owen and Mantel's names should be recognizable 320 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 2: at this point in the episode. The others were geologist 321 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 2: William Coneybear, minister and paleontologist William Buckland, and naturalist Edward Forbes. 322 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,680 Speaker 2: The illustration that ran in the Illustrated London Daily News 323 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 2: showed only four names, Buckland, Owen, Mantel and Cuvier Richard. 324 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 2: Owen was treated as the guest of honor and he 325 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 2: was seated at the head of the table, which also 326 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 2: put him in the head of the Iguanadon. Other guests 327 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 2: mentioned in various sources included Edward Forbes, Joseph Prestwich, ornithologist 328 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 2: John Gould, and Francis Fuller, who was managing director of 329 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 2: the Crystal Palace Park Company, along with various company directors. 330 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,359 Speaker 2: It's likely that at least some of the guests ate 331 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 2: at a table that was set up next to the iguanadon, 332 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 2: since even though it was life size, it probably would 333 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 2: not have comfortably seated everyone around a table for dinner. 334 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,720 Speaker 1: The bill of fare printed for the dinner lists an 335 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: eight coarse meal, soups, mock turtle, julian and hare fish, 336 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,440 Speaker 1: caught in oyster, sauce, filet of whiting and turbot a 337 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: lallandiz removes which were just a course served in place 338 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: of one that is removed. Roast turkey, ham, raised pigeon, 339 00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: pie and boiled chicken and celery sauce entrees, cordellettes de 340 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: moutenau demut, currie de la pero, reese so uh curry 341 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: with rice, salmi de perdri and mayonnaise, game pheasants, woodcocks 342 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:18,879 Speaker 1: and snipes, sweets massduin jelly, orange jelly Barverrois Charlotte rousse, 343 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: French pastry nuga a la chantilli, and dessert grapes, apples, pears, 344 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: almonds and raisins, French plums, pines, Philbert's walnuts, et cetera, 345 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: et cetera. Accompanying all of this were wine options sherry 346 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,200 Speaker 1: madeira Port Moselle claret. 347 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 2: According to one account, most of this meal was prepared 348 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 2: by Hawkins's cook after making arrangements to have everything reheated 349 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,439 Speaker 2: in the kitchen of a nearby tavern. The bill of 350 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 2: fare credits Charles higginbottom of the Annerley Tavern, as well 351 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 2: as European on Mansion House Street. 352 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: After dinner, Owen offered a toast to the late gidea 353 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: In Mantel, who had died the previous November, simply saying 354 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:07,680 Speaker 1: quote to the memory of Mantel, discoverer of the Iguanadon. 355 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: And he also gave a speech on the sculptures and 356 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: the discoveries that had led to their being made. In 357 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: the words of Routledge's guide quote, the professor paid an 358 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,119 Speaker 1: eloquent tribute to the value of the labors in the 359 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:24,680 Speaker 1: wide field of geology and paleontology of such men as Courier, Hunter, 360 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: and coney bear. He told the company how the researches 361 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: of Cuvier in comparative anatomy, had provided the means of 362 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: reconstructing an extinct animal almost from a single fossil bone. 363 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: For so perfect was the individuality of each species of animals, 364 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: and so peculiarly adapted with the construction of their parts 365 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: to the purpose for which they were destined, that a 366 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,159 Speaker 1: skillful observer could tell with the most perfect accuracy to 367 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: what species of animal any particular bone belonged. The researches 368 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: of Hunter had confirmed the theories of Cuvier, and from 369 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: a single bone or a single tooth, cony bear, Buckland 370 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: and others had succeeded in building up an entire animal. Apparently, 371 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: when Owen got up to offer a toast and mentioned 372 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: Mantell's name, there were people who were like, uh oh, 373 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,880 Speaker 1: And then when he just toasted in his memory, there 374 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: was a sigh of relief. After this address on the 375 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: making of these statues and the paleontology that had gone 376 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: into them, the entire assembly also sang a song. The 377 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:33,919 Speaker 1: song was called the Jolly Old Beast, and it had 378 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: been written by Professor Forbes. It started quote a thousand 379 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,880 Speaker 1: ages underground. His skeleton had lame, But now his body's 380 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 1: big and round, and he's himself again, his bones like 381 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,159 Speaker 1: atoms wrapped in clay, his ribs of iron stout. Where 382 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: is the root alive today that dares with him? Turn 383 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: out beneath his hide. He's got inside the souls of 384 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: living men who dare our sorry, and now to ride 385 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: with life in him again. Then a chorus came that went, 386 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: the jolly old Beast is not deceased. There's life in 387 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: him again. And then there were more versus and refrain. 388 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: After that, this party went on past midnight, and after 389 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: everyone rang in the New year, many of them traveled 390 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: back to central London by train, although the Crystal Palace 391 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: station was not complete yet, so they would have had 392 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:28,879 Speaker 1: to travel to the nearest train station. 393 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:31,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a little curious about exactly what happened, whether 394 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 2: they had made special arrangements for the train to come 395 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 2: out to where the station would be, or whether people 396 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 2: were transported elsewhere. It's a little vague, but as planned. 397 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 2: The write ups of the evening did appear in several publications, 398 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 2: including the Illustrated London Daily News. On January seventh, eighteen 399 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 2: fifty four, and then later in Punch and other publications. 400 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 2: Stuff progressed with the building of the park, and by 401 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:01,160 Speaker 2: February the Crystal Palace Company had announced that it would 402 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 2: be opening in May. It finally opened just a little 403 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 2: bit later than that, on June tenth, eighteen fifty four, 404 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 2: with Queen Victoria conducting the opening ceremony. 405 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: Hawkins had not finished all the sculptures yet, though, and 406 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: before long he ran into a problem which he probably 407 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:23,160 Speaker 1: did not expect, which is that new scientific discoveries rendered 408 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: his sculptures obsolete. My heart breaks for him over this. 409 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, with the stuff that was read about entire dinosaurs 410 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 2: being built up from one bone or tooth, that's not 411 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 2: fully surprising from the modern perspective. 412 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd just think about all the work he had 413 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,120 Speaker 1: put in and then to be like, uh, that's well, 414 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:44,640 Speaker 1: that's not actually what it looked like. Yeah. We had 415 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,719 Speaker 1: already mentioned that he had given his Iguanadon sculptures a 416 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,119 Speaker 1: horn that really should have been essentially a thumb, but 417 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,879 Speaker 1: that is minor compared to a lot of it, and 418 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,639 Speaker 1: many of his sculptures looked really dated and inaccurate. Within 419 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,399 Speaker 1: just a few years of their completion. They reflected cutting 420 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: edge thought in the fields of paleontology and zoology when 421 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 1: he made them, but today they look almost comically wrong. 422 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 2: The iguanodons are a good example. One of them, as 423 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 2: we said earlier, just looks like a humongous lizard. It's 424 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 2: sprawled out scott its legs all off to the side. 425 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 2: Even the more correct iguanadon that the dinner was served 426 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:29,159 Speaker 2: in does not look anything like iguanadons are represented today. 427 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 2: Among other things, in eighteen seventy eight, mine workers in 428 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 2: Belgium found a whole collection of fossilized iguanadon statues, which 429 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,440 Speaker 2: dramatically changed people's conception of what they looked like. We've 430 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 2: compared this sculpture to an elephant, and it had very 431 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 2: straight elephant like legs. But today an iguanadon is usually 432 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:55,159 Speaker 2: drawn or sculpted with much thinner, more sculpted, less tree 433 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 2: trunk like legs, as well as a posture that would 434 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,200 Speaker 2: let it move around on either two legs or four. 435 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,920 Speaker 2: Research that has been carried out in recent years also 436 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 2: suggests that Hawkins originally completed thirty seven of these statues, 437 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,560 Speaker 2: but he didn't get to finish all of the ones 438 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,640 Speaker 2: that he had planned for the park. The Crystal Palace 439 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 2: Company cut his funding in eighteen fifty five. The sculptures 440 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 2: that were still in the works but not finished yet 441 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,679 Speaker 2: at that point were scrapped, and at that point the 442 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,639 Speaker 2: ones he had yet to complete included a mastodon and 443 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 2: other extinct mammals. This was probably just about money. The 444 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 2: sculptures were the most expensive thing in the park and 445 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 2: thirteen thousand pounds had already been spent on the ones 446 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 2: that were complete. It does seem like the creation of 447 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 2: these statues helped fuel the British public's fascination with dinosaurs 448 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 2: and other extinct animals. In the nineteenth century, Dinosaurs were 449 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 2: really a big deal, as they were first to described 450 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 2: scientifically and people became interested in them. Hawkins also became 451 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 2: really into denned as an artist of natural history, and 452 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 2: he was commissioned to make dinosaur art in the United 453 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 2: States and elsewhere. The small scale models he had designed 454 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 2: as part of his planning process for these sculptures were 455 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 2: also reproduced and they were available for sale places like 456 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 2: schools and museums. The Crystal Palace had a major fire 457 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 2: in eighteen sixty six, but it was repaired, it continued 458 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 2: to be used and it went through various expansions in 459 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 2: milestones before being destroyed in another fire in nineteen thirty six. 460 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 2: There is some speculation that if this later fire had 461 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 2: not happened, it still probably would have been destroyed during 462 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 2: the Blitz in World War Two. It does seem like 463 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 2: it would have been a likely target. Over the years, 464 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:51,239 Speaker 2: the Crystal Palace dinosaurs gradually fell into disrepair, and some 465 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 2: of them were lost entirely. 466 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 1: A restoration project started in the nineteen fifties. Although that 467 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: process involved some of the statues being moved, they wound 468 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: up in parts of the park where they experienced even 469 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: more wear and tear than they had in their earlier locations. 470 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: Another big restoration and renovation projects started in two thousand 471 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: and two. At that point there were twenty nine sculptures remaining. 472 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: There's current restoration works still going on. It is expected 473 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: to be completed in the spring of twenty twenty six. Today, 474 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: the remaining statues have Grade one listed status, which is 475 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: given to buildings and structures of exceptional interest in the UK. 476 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: Crystal Palace Park is still a public park and it 477 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: has Grade two listed status on the Register of historic 478 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 1: parks and gardens. It is supported by the Crystal Palace 479 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: Park Trust and operated by Bromley Council. The Trust and 480 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: the Council are currently carrying out a huge regeneration project 481 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: at the park. Yeah, that's a project that includes not 482 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,040 Speaker 1: just like restoring of the park, but also like the 483 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: plants at the park and regeneration of those plants. I 484 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: honestly love these statues, and in spite of and because 485 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: of the goofy aspect they have by today's standards, listen 486 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 1: it makes them great. Do you have some listener mail 487 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 1: I do. 488 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 2: This is from Anna and Hona wrote to say Hi, 489 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 2: Holly and Tracy. I've written a few times before. Not 490 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:30,479 Speaker 2: sure if they make it your way or not. I 491 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 2: just saw this article in my local news, Yay Buffalo, 492 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 2: and got very excited and audibly exclaimed in front of 493 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 2: my family while scrolling my phone when I saw it. 494 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: It's about Eli S. Parker being posthumously admitted to the 495 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 1: New York Bar although it is many years overdue to him. 496 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: It's always fun for me anytime Western New York and 497 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: familiar places are mentioned in your episodes. I'm sure everyone 498 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,680 Speaker 1: feels their hometown is overflowing with history, and Buffalo is 499 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: no different. Although I write this it is currently eight 500 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: degrees out. I won't deny we have some real trash 501 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: weather here. I would be. 502 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 2: Beyond delighted if you made a stop here for a show, 503 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 2: perhaps in the warmer months. I'm sure many listeners have 504 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 2: emailed you about Parker's belated recognition, but just in case, 505 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 2: here's a link. It is a link to an article 506 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,520 Speaker 2: that is about Eli Parker being admitted to the bar 507 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 2: in New York. I now want to listen to your 508 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 2: episode on Parker all over again, and likely will with 509 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 2: my husband and children on our two hour drive to 510 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 2: Seneca Falls tomorrow. I've attached photos of our house Panther 511 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 2: Shadow for your amusement. She's a bit of a dud 512 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 2: and not the brightest, but we love her dearly, especially 513 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 2: our fourteen year old son, who's never too cool to 514 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 2: admit he has an inner cat lady. In the event 515 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 2: he needs me to hold on or wait a minute 516 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,479 Speaker 2: for him, he will tell me to pause for a 517 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 2: brief sponsor break. So there's such thing as too much 518 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,480 Speaker 2: STUFFI miss in history class. Our whole family loves listening 519 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 2: to you, and thank you so much for everything you 520 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 2: do to create this show. 521 00:32:58,080 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: It is truly a gift. 522 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:04,800 Speaker 2: Sincerely, Ana, so uh, thank you so much for sending this. 523 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 2: I don't actually remember whether I had seen this news before. 524 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 2: I do have a whole assortment of things I'm always 525 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,080 Speaker 2: looking at for preparing Unearthed episodes, which is actually what 526 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 2: I'm working on right now, the next installment of Unearthed. 527 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 2: But yes, this is something that came out in November 528 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 2: and posthumously admitting Eli Parker to the bar in New York. 529 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 2: So cool, which is really cool. Yeah, a belated recognition 530 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 2: for sure. So thank you so much Ana for this email. 531 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 2: If you would like to send us a note about 532 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 2: this or any other podcast, we're at History Podcast aiheartradio 533 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 2: dot com and you can subscribe to our show on 534 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you like to get 535 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 2: your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 536 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 537 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 538 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:06,479 Speaker 2: favorite shows.