Dine Like a Dinosaur: A Roaring New Year's Feast Inside an Iguanodon!

On New Year's Eve in 1853, a group of twenty men received a very unusual invitation. Instead of celebrating at home or in a fancy hall, they were asked to have a seven-course dinner inside a giant model of a dinosaur called an iguanodon. This event took place at the Crystal Palace in London, which had recently been moved and rebuilt. The man behind this creative idea was Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, a talented artist who specialized in making models of animals, especially dinosaurs. Hawkins wanted to introduce the public to the new science of palaeontology, which is the study of ancient life through fossils. He believed that by building life-sized models of dinosaurs, people would become more interested in learning about these amazing creatures from the past.

The guest list for the dinner was impressive. It included famous scientists like Richard Owen, who invented the word 'dinosaur,' Edward Forbes, an expert on starfish, John Gould, a bird illustrator, and Joseph Prestwich, a geologist. There were also important local leaders, investors in the Crystal Palace, and reporters from big newspapers. The invitation itself was a work of art, showing drawings of dinosaurs and a ladder leading into the iguanodon. On the night of the dinner, the weather was cold and snowy, but the guests dressed in their finest clothes and made their way to a large warehouse. Inside, they found many dinosaur models, but the iguanodon was the biggest. To reach the dining table, the men had to climb up steps and walk onto a platform inside the dinosaur's body. A tent was set up above them to keep out the cold, and a chandelier hung over the table to make the dinner feel special.

The meal was very fancy, with seven different courses. The guests enjoyed soups like mock turtle and hare, fish dishes with sauces, roasted meats like turkey and ham, and special entrees made from lamb, rabbit, and partridge. There were also game birds, many desserts, and a variety of fruits and nuts. The food was served by servants in uniforms, and there was music and singing to entertain everyone. During the evening, the guests talked about famous scientists who had studied dinosaurs, shared stories, and even gossiped about some of them. At midnight, Richard Owen made toasts to celebrate the new year, and Edward Forbes read a long, funny poem that made everyone laugh. The newspapers wrote about the dinner, calling it a luxurious and elegant event. The story was published in several papers, including the Illustrated London News and Charles Dickens's Daily News. Thanks to all the publicity, thousands of people came to see the dinosaur models when the Crystal Palace opened to the public. Today, the dinosaur sculptures are still in Crystal Palace Park, but there are no more dinners inside them. The event is remembered as a clever way to get people excited about science and history.