The Friends of Charles Darwin

Blog

  • Judging a chap by the covers of his books

    What does your bookshelf say about you?

  • Sexton bugs and rock ’n’ roll

    In which I spot an insect on the head of another insect.

  • Curious and Curiosity

    Wishing the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover) good luck on its frankly bonkers descent to the the surface of Mars.

  • The secret creationist diary of Richard Carter (not yet FCD), age 6

    I have just been going through some of my (very) old school exercise books, recently retrieved from my Dad’s loft. Back in 1971–02, young British children were routinely indoctrinated in creationist nonsense in state schools.

  • Loads-a-Darwins!!

    Some Darwin tenners earlier today.

  • Pulling the birds

    For many years now, I have had a pet hunch that Darwinian Sexual Selection might be a far more important driver in the creation of new species than it is generally given credit for.

  • In which we embrace Intelligent Design

    Notes on the new-look Friends of Charles Darwin website, including some URL changes.

  • Sir John Houblon

    Sir John Who-blon? Sir John Houblon. You must have heard of him: first governor of the Bank of England. He was such an important and influential chap that they chose to depict him on the back of the £50 note. What? On the highest denomination note of the realm? That’s right. In 1994, the Bank…

  • Can Red Lions Evolve?

    Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. —Charles Darwin The Descent of Man, 1871 As is explained elsewhere, the Red Lion public house, Parkgate, Cheshire may one day go down in history as the birthplace of the Friends of Charles Darwin. Until then, we can but reflect on…

  • The Sweetest Honour of All?

    Although the Bank of England has finally announced that Charles Darwin is to be celebrated on one of their bank notes, they weren’t the first people to recognise his genius. Darwin has already been honoured in many other ways. One of the strangest was his depiction on a sachet of sugar. I came across this…

  • In Search of the Durham Cow

    Can you help? I’m trying to find out more about this engraving, entitled The Durham Cow. I bought it at an antiques fair in Oxfordshire last year. Only after I’d taken it home did I realise that the image had been cut out of an old book a practice I heartily disapprove of, which would certainly…

  • The Hundredth Monkey

    Meet Carolyn, the 100th member of the Friends of Charles Darwin. Carolyn and I go back a long way, so I promised her the highly desirable 100th position, once it finally became available. [Not that Carolyn expressed any particular desire to acquire 100th position, you understand—but, it’s a great opportunity to embarrass her.] If there’s…