The 22 roaring residents of The O2′s Dinosaurs Unleashed exhibition are getting a make-over in time for the summer holidays. The animatronic dinosaurs are more lifelike than ever thanks to a lick of paint on their claws, a thorough polish of their teeth and a bit of voice box tweaking!

The dinosaurs are joined by some real-life reptiles, a falconry show and an origami expert who will show you how to make a paper dinosaur. Plus, there’s a chance to win your own dinosaur by entering the Dinosaurs Unleashed competition which is raising money for Richard House Children’s Hospice.

Dinosaurs Unleashed, The O2, until 31 Dec 2011. Book tickets

As Visit London’s official dinosaur correspondent, I can announce that from today, there are Dinosaurs Unleashed on Oxford Street (just across the road from Selfridges!)

Last night, I was lucky enough to get a preview of what’s been brought from the Mesozoic to the 21st century.

There are 24 life-size dinosaurs, ranging from the small Velociraptors to the huge Diplodocus, taking in all the favourites such as Stegosaurus, Triceratops and, of course, T. rex.

They are arranged into three zones, one each for the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous as well as a virtual aquarium which uses CGI to bring the ancient seas to life.

The Jurassic area, the largest, is outside and has transformed part of central London into a primeval jungle. It isn’t hard to imagine the dinosaurs breaking down the walls and going shopping in Primark… Don’t forget to keep you eyes open for the Deinosuchus — that’s a giant crocodile — just before you leave the jungle and head into the aquarium.

It’s fascinating for dinosaur fans of any age. There’s more photos in the Visit London Flickr pool.

Dinosaurs Unleashed is open until 30 April 2010 at Parklife Oxford Street. You can book Dinosaurs Unleashed tickets here.

It’s turning into Dinosaur week in London. Which, as any six year old, or any grown up dino-nut (guilty as charged), will tell you is only right and proper.

Last night saw the first London performance of Walking with Dinosaurs at The O2. It’s on there until Sunday and then comes to Wembley Arena at the end of the month.

Huxley the paleontologist narrates the journey from the first dinosaur eggs in the triassic through to the meteor impact at the close of the cretaceous (was that a spoiler?). He does the science bit, covering evolution and plate tectonics to tell how the world and its animals and plants have changed over millions of years. But the stars are, of course, the dinosaurs themselves – nine different species, plus one pterosaur.

T. rex is, as in all dino-films, a shameless scene stealer, stomping and roaring as she defends her child from a pair of (justifiably) upset herbivores.

For me the stars were the Brachiosaurs. When Huxley describes the beast towering over him as a youngster and goes on to tell how much bigger he will grow (as tall as a three storey building, as long as two buses, as heavy as ten adult elephants “give or take an adult elephant”) you may think “ah, that’s why they made a small one, there’s no way they could do an adult”, but then a full grown titan joins him in the arena!

The dinosaurs are wonderful creations – they look, move and sound like living animals. For anyone who loves, or even just likes a little bit, dinos, this is probably the closest we’ll come to seeing them in life.

Tickets are selling out fast so book now or enter our competition to win a family ticket.

Dinosaurs are taking over London! We’ve met dinosaurs at The Proms and Walking with Dinosaurs arrives at The O2 tonight.

Are you planning to see Walking with Dinosaurs at The O2 or Wembley Arena? You’ll see full size dinos roaring and fighting on stage!

If you love dinosaurs, head to either the Natural History Museum or Crystal Palace Park before the show for more prehistoric scares.

The Natural History Museum is home to an impressive collection of dinosaur fossils. Get close to dinosaur skeletons and explore the science behind these big creatures. What does dinosaur skin look like? Did you know that there are still dinosaurs alive on earth today? What did they eat and will they eat you? Find out the answers to all your dinosaur questions at the Natural History Museum.

If you want to meet dinosaurs in the wild, visit Crystal Palace Park. These life size sculptures were built by the Victorians and you’ll find them lurking in the woods like a real life Jurassic Park. Scientific understanding about dinosaurs has moved on a bit since these dudes were created so there’s a few funny faces and poses, but they’re still scary and huge.

Entry to the Natural History Museum and Crystal Palace Park is free. It’s not too late to book tickets for Walking With Dinosaurs.

This weekend, the Royal Albert Hall celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin with an uplifting prom themed around evolution.

Special guest presenter Sir David Attenborough and conductor Charles Hazlewood took the audience on a musical journey from the big bang, through life on earth and off into space!

We all joined in the beginning of the world, quietly humming, then whistling and finally whooping as the BBC Concert Orchestra and London Philharmonic Choir reached a melodic crescendo.

The prom introduced two premieres – the first performance of Goldie’s classical work Sine Tempore and the first UK performance of Hekla by Jón Leifs. Hekla sounds like a volcano exploding and included percussionists smashing rocks together, banging an anvil and even a canon booming at the back of the hall.

Dinosaurs from the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs turned up to terrorise the audience and eat a few children. The T rex on the stage roared while the orchestra performed the theme from Jurassic Park. (And I’ve only just stopped having nightmares after being scared by Daleks at last year’s Doctor Who themed prom!)

After the dinosaurs, prommers enjoyed music about insects, animals and birds. Then humans arrived, heralded by Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The concert ended with the futuristic Star Wars theme.

You can catch the Evolution Prom on iPlayer, but even better, you can book a ticket for one of the upcoming proms. The proms run till the 12th September and there are still tickets available for most concerts. Tickets start from just £5.

Read more about the 2009 BBC Proms.