Darwin: My Ancestor - Episode 4

Writer and poet Ruth Padel investigates the qualities of her great great grandfather Charles Darwin and attempts to discover the man behind the science. Ruth explores the way in which Darwin became a writer and was able to turn scientific theory into readable prose. She looks at the works he read in his early life that shaped his literary imagination and investigates how his writings on the Beagle voyage marked the beginning of his career as an author. Ruth also investigates the continuing power of his books and asks how later novelists were affected by his work. Among her interviewees are Darwin scholar Gillian Beer, geologist Richard Fortey, writer and fellow Darwin descendant Randal Keynes and the former Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries.