"Dragon skull" on UK beach

The best publicity stunt we've seen in the last week is over on the Vogue UK website, where if you type in the Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A) a host of velociraptors in hats show up for no reason.

But the second best stunt is this. Not a velociraptor, but a dragon's skull.

The skull - the size of a London bus - appeared to have been washed up on Charmouth beach on Dorset’s Jurassic coast, famous for its treasure trove of dinosaur fossils. It was installed overnight by movie and TV streaming service blinkbox to celebrate the arrival of the third installment of HBO’s epic Game of Thrones on the service.

A team of three sculptors took over two months to design, construct and paint the skull, which measures 40ft long by 8ft wide and stands at over 9ft tall.

The work was inspired by a memorable scene in the series which sees character Arya Stark discover a dragon skull in the dungeons of King’s Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. At this point in George RR Martin’s fantasy, the dragons are supposedly long dead, but it hints strongly at their return, which is a developing theme in the story.

Game of Thrones season 3 will be available on blinkbox from 9am today (15 July) priced at £17.99 (SD) and £23.99 (HD).