The massive Ice Age mammals that lurk in the recesses of the Central Hall, some giant worms and a gigantic gold nugget, these are all highlights of our last summer Night Safari tour on Monday 12 July.

Our fossil mammal expert, Adrian Lister, introduces the Ice Age mammals on the night and gives safari visitors the rare chance to get closer to some of our most iconic Central Hall exhibits, like the Ilford Woolly Mammoth skull and tusks, below left, and our armadillo-like Glyptodon fossil, pictured right.

Upstairs in Central Hall, curator Emma Sherlock and her giant worms lend their charms to the Tree gallery, and mineralogist Mike Rumsey shares some golden moments in the Vault gallery. Museum botanist Sandy Knapp presents her top Museum pieces, Central Hall's botanically illustrated ceiling panels, and butterfly explorer Blanca Huertas reveals her favourite flutterers.

As before, Night Safari visitors can enjoy a drink and snacks at the bar before and after their exclusive tours of Central Hall. There's also a break in the middle of the tour.

Book tickets online for Night Safari on 12 July

Believe it or not, there was actually a proposal of marriage made - and accepted - in The Vault gallery at the last Night Safari in May, by one of the safari visitors. He'd rung the event organisers beforehand to arrange it and said afterwards: 'Not only was the Night Safari so cool, but finishing the night knowing that I will be spending the rest of my life with my girlfriend, is beyond happiness.' How sweet is that and what a place to do it, surrounded by all those gems.

And put this date in your diary. On 1 November, Night Safari returns for a Halloween special.

Back to one of July's highlights ... the Ilford Woolly Mammoth skull and tusks display in Central Hall, shown below, is something to behold. But the enormity of this Essex fossil doesn't really come across here. It's the only complete mammoth skull ever to be found in Britain.

The Ilford Woolly Mammoth model, on the right here, is not on public display, but held in our Palaeontology collection at the Museum

Dinosaurs by torch light

It was bound to be a success of course. Torch-lit tour of the Dinosaurs gallery, sleeping in Central Hall next to Dippy (our famous diplodocus skeleton), a bugs’ talk and the new Sony PlayStation game to try out. A child’s dream, come true.

The first Dino Snores in association with Sony PlayStation was a sell-out, pretty much as soon as it was announced before Christmas, and attracted lots of media attention. On Saturday 16 January, about 200 over-excited kids descended on the Museum to experience a real Night at the Museum, and find out exactly what goes on when the dinosaurs should be getting their shut-eye.

LIke the boy pictured left, who really got into the dino spirit, Mack Pegram, aged 9, was one of the lucky children there, he loved it:

"It was very very very very very very very very fun! And brilliant because there were lots of fun activities to do and I liked sleeping in the Central Hall because you can look up and see the diplodocus. My favourite activity was the Bugs Bite Back because they talked about loads of cool bugs that were poisonous and venomous. I definitely would like to go again."

And did Dippy, the 26-metre-long diplodocus skeleton, twitch at all as the children slept alongside, I wondered?

Event organiser, Terry Lester, filled me in on the spooky stuff: "Three of us, Matt, Beth and me stayed awake the whole night and kept an eye on Central Hall while everyone was sleeping. At around 3.30am I was looking towards Dinosaur Way and saw a shadowy figure run from the Dinosaur gallery entrance across into Human Biology. We knew it wasn’t anyone from Central Hall, so Matt and I grabbed our torches and in our socks (shoes were removed beforehand so as not to wake the sleeping hoards) and dashed to investigate. Slightly spooked we searched the darkened galleries, but to no avail. Not a soul to be seen (well, not a living one anyhow). We checked with the Control Room and as agreed, they had not been patrolling the ground floor of the Waterhouse building. Figment of a sleep-deprived mind or something more other-worldly?"

Ooooh, weird...

The whole occasion was filled with memorable highlights, as Terry describes:

"Seeing the kids entering the museum with such evident excitement (parents sporting resigned looks on their faces), hearing the cheers during the welcome talk, the friendly rivalry between the groups, the screams (of excitement, not terror) from the Dinosaur Gallery during the torch lit trails and the clapping as the lights went out in Central Hall at bedtime were just a few of them.

"Erica McAlister and TV host Nick Baker, who did a talk about bugs - had never met before doing their show, Revenge of the Mini Beasts, but you’d never have thought it seeing them in action, they looked like they’d been working together for years. Couldn’t quite see which one was the side-kick, but I think Erica came off marginally as the one in charge."

"The kids' favourites were the stories about the aggressiveness of killer bees, scorpions and caterpillars," recalls Erica, "specimens of which Nick happened to have hidden in his sleeping bag!"

The next Dino Snores is on 13 February and there are more to come. Adults, don't despair, you can get in free accompanied by 5-6 children, but stay close, because dinsoaurs and bugs are about...

Read the news story about the first Dino Snores. See what Erica McAlister who presented the bugs show has to say in her blog post.

Settling in for his book signing event

Yesterday, Sir David Attenborough spent about 3 hours with us at a book signing event in our Central Hall, much to the delight of 100s of fans.

You had to buy one of his books or a DVD from our Museum Shop to become the lucky owner of a ticket to the signing. This was mainly because his last signing event - where no tickets were issued - was so popular, poor Sir David ended up staying on many hours more than planned, to satisfy the 1000s who turned up on the day.

Queuing up in Central Hall to get our books signed

I joined the queue with some work colleagues to get my newly-purchased copy of his book signed, and to shake the hand of one of the most respected people on the planet. When we arrived at the Central Hall just before 13.00 at the scheduled time for kick-off, it was packed. Visitors had been queuing since 11am in the morning, I heard. Patiently, we wound our way round our famous Central Hall Diplodocus skeleton, in what was to be a 2-hour wait to greet the great man.

It seemed Sir David, clad in a warm-looking maroon jumper (which I envied as it was a little draughty where we were queuing), was saying ‘hello’ to everyone and asking each ‘how are you?’ Snacking throughout on nuts - apparently he asked for nothing more - he must have signed over 600 books and DVDs.

After each person got their book/s signed, they turned and smiled happily.

'It was wonderful to see how much everyone looks up to him as a hero. He took away a large bag full of cards, poems and gifts brought for him by members of the public,' said Jeremy Ensor, the Museum's Head of Retail, who attended the event.

The event was one of five book signings Sir David Attenborough is doing in the UK to promote his new book, Life Stories, published last month. Yesterday alone, 100s of copies of Life Stories were sold.

While we queued, I leafed through my copy of Life Stories. It’s got a quirky personal style and follows Attenborough’s original radio series where he gave us his own insights into the natural world. He talks about his first pet, a salamander, and the creatures that first inspired him like flying dinosaurs and sloths.

I got drawn in to a chapter on ‘Collecting’ where Sir David discusses the maleness of collecting. Actually I’m not so sure about this, women may not get into stamps or fossils as much as men, but then wasn't the greatest fossil hunter a 19th-century woman? Mary Anning. And what about seashells, butterflies, china ornaments, plush toys, dolls, shoes… the things women are traditionally known to hoard. These days I'm sure there are many more women who collect things from nature too. It got me thinking and took my mind off the wait.

Ah well, back to life as they say. And the new series, Life, is currently showing on BBC, so catch it if you can