As an armchair traveller with a fascination for Central Asia, Roy Chapman Andrews (1884-1960) is one of my favourite explorers. Boy wonder and tomb raider long before Lara Croft, according to the blurb on the reprint of his autobiography (Under a Luck Star) Andrews ‘came as close to superstar status as any explorer in the twentieth century’. Working for the American Natural History Museum (@anmh) his entire life, he lead the five legendary Central Asiatic expeditions from 1921 to about 1926. Exploring in Mongolia, the expedition found a plethora of hitherto unexpected dinosaur remains, including the famous dinosaur eggs found at a location named ‘Flaming Cliffs’. So it was with great enthusiasm that I visited the massive exhibition of dinosaur remains at the American Natural History Museum. I found an exhibition of dinosaur eggs, and references to Roy, including the first horned face dinosaur named after him (Protoceratops andrewsi). I could have spent weeks sketching in the main dinosaur hall.
