Wallace

It was the great travel books written in the 19th century by Alfred Russel Wallace that inspired Sir David Attenborough himself to achieve great things in the realm of natural history.

But Attenborough tells us that Wallace was more than just a great travel writer.

His power of meticulous observation and recording as he explored many parts of the world were in the highest league imaginable, even for Victorian standards - and his power of analysis very much in line with Darwin, his great contemporary.

Wallace independently came up with a theory of evolution that was in parallel to Darwin's thinking - two field naturalists breaking huge conventions of the time and coming up with the single most important theory in Biology. How did they resolve the conflict between themselves?

Written and presented by David Attenborough

Producer: Julian Hector

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2011.