Secret Museums (aka Professor Hutton’s Curiosities)

Britain has a rich history of museums, but there are many that you have never heard of, full of curious, bizarre objects and bursting with little known history. Many are collections from yesteryear, living history of a time gone by. Most of these ‘secret’ museums are housed in small buildings, tucked away from the mainstream in hidden corners of our cities. In this 12 part series, enthusiastic academic and historian, Professor Ronald Hutton will visit these unsung gems of British museums.

The Grant Museum was founded in 1828 as a teaching collection for University College and is the only remaining university zoological museum in London. The museum has over 67,000 spectacular and bizarre curiosities encased in wood and glass enclosures, including a variety of extinct animals such as the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine, the Quagga, and even the Dodo.

Another enormous collection is found in The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology that houses an estimated 80,000 objects, making it one of the greatest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. Featuring artefacts from everyday life in Egypt, not just the Pharaohs, the museum is packed with lots of little charming items that you don’t see elsewhere.

London’s Cinema Museum is devoted to keeping alive the spirit of cinema from the days long before the multiplex. And the Cartoon Museum shows some of the very finest examples of British cartoons, caricature, and comic art from the last two hundred years, including rare and original artworks. The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising features a staggering twelve thousand original items, and the tour starts back in the Victorian era.

The Freud Museum was the home of Sigmund Freud and his family when they escaped Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. The centrepiece of the museum is Freud’s study, faithfully preserved just as it was during his lifetime, containing Freud’s remarkable collection of ancient antiquities.

The Marylebone Cricket Club is the oldest sports museum in the world, containing the most celebrated collection of cricket memorabilia and the items on display include cricket kit used by legends of the crease, old scorecards and lots of trophies. Even if you’re not an ardent cricket fan, there’s much here to entertain and amuse you.

As you can see, all the museums are absolutely different but definitely worth to be seen. Professor Ronald Hutton’s passion for finding amazing secrets, unknown facts and objects is very contagious so let him guide you on the road of new discoveries from the legendary past.