Charles Darwin’s home, Down House, from the garden (watercolour on paper) (Image: Julia Wedgwood / Bridgeman)
Jimmy Doherty in Darwin’s Garden BBC 2 in the UK, 5 March at 8 pm
Try your hand at eight of Darwin’s experiments
CHARLES DARWIN’s penchant for experimentation was obvious from an early age. Growing up in Shrewsbury, near the border with Wales, he and his brother Erasmus “Ras” played with chemicals, earning Charles the nickname “Gas”. And during the Beagle voyage, when he stumbled upon a line of Andean condors, the 20-something Darwin couldn’t resist an experiment into vulture olfaction, wrapping up a hunk of fresh meat and tossing…
