23 August 2005
When I visited Shrewsbury, Charles Darwin’s birthplace, I was appalled at how little effort the city made to acknowledge the greatness that it had spawned. Here is the place where Darwin spent his formative years and yet you’d need the eyes of an eagle to spot any celebration of that fact. His home is, bizarrely, home to the Shrewsbury Valuation Office; his old school (now the library) has a statue but nothing else; and where, oh where, are the signs at the entrance to the city that should proclaim to the visitor that they are about to enter biology’s hallowed turf? Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Shrewsbury, Darwin's birthplace, Birth
14 August 2005
Darwin’s bedroom: the room in which he was born, The Mount
Darwin was brought up in Shrewsbury in a house called The Mount. I went to Shrewsbury and The Mount to check out where it all began and to see if I could not fathom something in the life of a young boy growing up there that may have contributed to his later outlook on the world. Read More...Tags:Darwin's birthplace, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Darwin's bedroom, Places Darwin lived
08 August 2005
Bust of Erasmus Darwin on garden wall of Darwin House, Lichfield.
To understand the developmental influences that contributed to Charles Darwin’s arrival at a place that sat outside the Church and resulted in his theory of evolution by natural selection, one needs to go back to his family. His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, in particular was no ordinary grandparent. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin, Grandfather, Darwin House, Lichfield
