Museum in lost Lottery funds crisis

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The museum had hoped to rebuild its 545-acre storage facility in Swindon, where 92 per cent of its collection is held.

In a bid to fund the project, the museum agreed to take part in ITV show Big Lottery Fund's People's Millions, in which viewers vote for which project should receive cash. But it was eliminated before the final televised round, which is next month.

"We are extremely disappointed," said museum director Chris Rapley. "It was a project to open up the 92 per cent of our collections which are not on public display. It was a critical project for the nation's heritage and for attracting the next generation of scientists and engineers."

The museum had drawn up plans for public tours of the 250,000 unseen exhibits - including Chris Boardman's record-breaking Lotus bike and a Blue Steel nuclear missile.

Professor Rapley said: "We will be exploring ways with our partners to make these collections available to the public in spite of this."