Did you know that I know Dean Lomax?

I've mentioned Dean a couple of times, the first time back in April when I mentioned the Palaeocritti site for the first time. For a bit more on Dean see here. I mention him here now as he was recently on the radio, which you can listen to here, his part being around the 35th minute onward.

In the interview you will hear him talk about what it is like to try to make your way in the world as an autodidactic palaeontologist who has not taken the academic route. You'll also hear him mention Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, which allows me to segue into my next point.

So how do I know Dean? Well, I actually came to know him because of the blog I did mentioning Palaeocritti. Dean found it and contacted me, so we got chatting about palaeontology and I mentioned wanting to volunteer at Donny museum. Thanks to Dean I am now doing that and work alongside him, drooling over fossils, helping out where we can (which will be the subject of my next post). The eagle eyed readers among you will have noticed that I mentioned both Dean and the museum in a previous post recently.

After he had done the interview the feedback seemed to be very positive and one lady even called in to say that the BBC should give him his own show. Check it out here, 22 minutes in. It is quite tempting to phone in and proclaim "I second that" though I would add that I want to see him in a dinosaur costume. If he gets famous just remember, you heard about him here first (unless you are actually Dean reading this, as I know he does, in which case, hi Dean).