#Alfred wallace series

These included the standardwing bird of paradise which is now named Semioptera wallacei after the biologist. This time he sailed to the Malay archipelago (now Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia) where he spent nearly eight years collecting and studying the local wildlife. Two years later, Wallace left Britain again. Wallace survived, in an open lifeboat, with only a couple of notebooks and an indignant parrot. Twenty-six days out of port, his ship caught fire and his drawings, most of his notes and his collection of specimens were destroyed. After four years, with his health deteriorating, he sailed home. He worked as a surveyor before deciding to travel to the Amazon to collect specimens and to work as a naturalist. Wallace was born in Usk, Monmouthshire, to middle-class parents, but was forced to leave school at 13 when the family fell on hard times. I have tried to get over the feeling of the excitement that is evoked by his name in our programmes.' Mention his name and you create a frisson of interest among these people. There is a sort of secret society of Wallace fans. I got interested and became absorbed by the man, like so many other individuals have been. 'He is still considered to be a hugely important figure there but has been ignored in Britain. 'I was on a trip to Malaysia a few years ago and discovered there was a huge group of Indonesian islands known as Wallacea, named after Wallace,' Bailey told the Observer. The programme involved Bailey following Wallace's footsteps round the East Indies where the biologist was working on an expedition to collect birds and animals in the 19th century.

#Alfred wallace series

Comedian Bill Bailey, a committed fan of the biologist, will unveil the portrait on Thursday and will also host a BBC2 TV series about Wallace which is to be screened in spring.

The museum's ceremony marks the beginning of its Wallace 100 programme, which will mark the centenary of Wallace's death and aims to bring him back to the public's attention. 'Now people can see just what a fine writer he was, and what a great mind he had.'

'It has taken two years to find all his letters from universities scattered round the world and to put them online,' said George Beccaloni, a curator and expert on Wallace. Wallace's entire correspondence will also be put online. On Thursday, Wallace's portrait – which has been kept for years in a storeroom – will be hung beside the grand statue of Darwin that overlooks the museum's main hall.