DIPPY the Diplodocus is to be "flat packed" ahead of his visit to the North-East.

Work is due to start on dismantling the National History Museum favourite shortly before he embarks on a national tour - which will see the 69ft long Diplodocus skeleton cast go on display at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle.

Dippy - one of the central London museum's best-recognised exhibits - will bid farewell from January 5 when Hintze Hall closes.

Lorraine Cornish, head of conservation, said a team of six will start dismantling Dippy piece by piece - beginning with the tail - over three-and-a-half weeks.

Expecting him to fit into 12 crates, she revealed that Dippy will be cleaned and repaired where required as he is prepared for his two-year tour.

It is the first time Dippy will go on display outside the capital and visitors to the Great North Museum: Hancock will be able to see him from May to October, 2019.

Ms Cornish said he will also be fitted with a new armature which will allow him to be put up and taken down easily, as the current one was "not made for travelling or touring".

"We are drawing out a map so we can locate each part of that skeleton - we have a labelling system because some of the vertebrae look very similar," she added.

"Once you get them off you don't want to muddle them up, so we have developed a proper numbering system that works with dinosaur anatomy.

"When we come to put it back together we don't get anything jumbled up."

Made in 1905 Dippy took up residence in Hintze Hall in 1979 and in 1993 had his tail raised - in that time it is estimated he has been viewed by more than 90 million visitors.

Ms Cornish, who joined the museum when Dippy moved into the entrance hall, said: "We are really keen for people to understand how important natural history is, and what a rich natural history we have in the UK.

Dippy's tour starts in early 2018 and venues also include Dorset County Museum, Birmingham Museum, Ulster Museum, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff, Number One Riverside in Rochdale, and Norwich Cathedral.

Kat Nilsson, head of national public programmes at the museum, said: "Everywhere Dippy is going will have a different story and that story will connect with the local nature and the science and research that is going on in those regions.

"Dippy is going to be dismantled, completely," she added. "And we are going to turn him, essentially, into flatpack Dippy so that he can be put together - probably in four days by the end of it, maybe even less."

At each tour location, the display will tie into regional stories and look at and consider things such as biodiversity and the science around there.