Groan

This evening the girlfriend admitted to not knowing who Alfred Russel Wallace was,... I should sack her. Poor old Alfred, a collosus of evolutionary thought, local hero and a notably nifty nibbler of Nobby's nuts, cast into the fetid slurry pit of historical also-rans; the collected works of Craig Revel Horwood are more popular with some people in this house.

And now, the first in a gripping new regular feature, 'interesting facts about forgotten giants of science'...

Interesting facts about forgotten giants of science number one - despite being born at Llanbradoc, near Usk, Wallace was English (albeit with some Scottish paternal ancestry) as Monmouthshire resided on the less rainy side of the border in those days.

And now, the first in another gripping new regular feature, 'red herrings about forgotten giants of science'...

Red herrings about forgotten giants of science number one - the assertion that Alfred Russel Wallace was a "notably nifty nibbler of Nobby's nuts" may well be based on less than firm foundations, it might be 'a fact' but probably not a true one.

PS. I promise to get back to birds in the next post.