史上今日：July 19
A huge new dinosaur skeleton has been unveiled to the media at the NaturalHistory Museum in London
1983: Flesh-eating dinosaur resurrected
England have
A huge new dinosaur skeleton has been unveiled to the media at the Natural
History Museum in London.
Plumber and amateur fossil hunter Bill Walker, 55, found a foot-long claw
belonging to the flesh-eating beast at a clay pit in Surrey in January.
When he found the rock containing the talon he tapped it and the whole
thing cracked.
Palaeontologists reconstructed it and dated the remains at 125 million
years old, describing them as the find of the century.
The scientists had to wait for the clay to dry out before they completed a
two-week excavation in May when they filled three vans with bones.
Group leader and head of the Dinosaur Department at the Natural History
Museum Dr Alan Charig explained: "It is a totally new species of dinosaur. Even
more important, this is the first record of any meat-eating dinosaur being found
in rock this age anywhere in the world."
He told a press conference at the museum the creature would have been about
15 feet tall - the same as a double-decker bus. It would have weighed half as
much as an elephant, at about two tons, and could have run up to 20 miles an
hour - faster than Sebastian Coe.
Nicknamed Claws, the dinosaur would have been slightly smaller than the
Tyrannosaurus Rex - with teeth like steak knives - and was probably a
sub-species of the Megalosaurus.
Mr Charig said the quarry where Mr Walker made the find was a well-known
source of fossils and he had excavated an iguanodon skeleton there only last
year.
But the experts are keeping the precise location of the site - known to be
near Gatwick Airport - secret to keep away souvenir hunters.
The South Kensington museum hopes to have part of the skeleton on display
for the public by the end of the year.
Syngman Rhee had US backing for much of his time in power
1965: S Korea's first president dies in exile
Artificially 1969:
The The former leader of the Republic of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, has
died in exile in the US state of Hawaii at the age of 90.
In 1948 Mr Rhee became South Korea's first president after elections in
which he gained 180 of the 196 votes of National Assembly members.
Mr Rhee spent much of his life in the US after leaving Korea in 1904.
Prior to his departure he had spent seven years in jail for leading
demonstrations against the Korean monarchy.
He returned briefly to Korea in 1910 when it was under Japanese control
but, after clashing with the new leadership, left again to head a Korean
Government in exile.
Autocratic
Syngman Rhee did not return until Japan's defeat in the Second World War
and the occupation of Korea by American and Soviet troops.
The country was divided at the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union set up a
People's Democratic Republic in the north of Korea while the US helped establish
the Republic of South Korea.
Mr Rhee emerged as the main anti-communist politician in South Korea and in
1947 he received the unofficial support of the US Government in his bid to
become president.
Although first elected on a popular mandate Mr Rhee's style became
increasingly autocratic.
In 1954 he forced through amendments to the South Korean constitution to
allow him to extend his term off office indefinitely.
However, in 1960 he was forced into a final exile after public unrest over
election fraud which saw him returned to office with a massive majority.
Vocabulary:
talon : The similar claw of a predatory animal(爪)
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