BBC Radio 4 LW

Did the Victorians Ruin the World?

Factual: History

Kat and Helen Arney present revisionist revelations about our Victorian forebears.

Did The Victorians Ruin The World?

Did the Victorians Ruin the World?: Series 1: Darwinism

Factual

Darwinism

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Did the Victorians Ruin the World?, Series 1, Darwinism

Whose idea was more powerful - Darwin's good one or his cousin Francis Galton's awful one?

Helen Arney and Dr Kat Arney explore the Victorian legacy: Darwin and ‘evolution’ versus Galton and ‘eugenics’. From 2017.

It's the most celebrated period of British ingenuity, but are our Victorian forebears due a rethink? 

Sci-curious sisters Kat and Helen Arney are on hand with some revisionist revelations that could turn what we think we know completely upside down.

Charles Darwin's discoveries have done more than anything before or since to radically change the way we think about natural history and where we came from. It's one of the most robust and powerful scientific concepts of all time and Darwin applied it across the animal kingdom - but he was always reluctant to be drawn on the role of natural selection in human development. However, his cousin Francis Galton had no such qualms, and used Darwin's ideas to develop a theory of Eugenics. 

Between the good of Darwin and the bad of Galton, whose ideas were the more powerful?

Helen Arney is a presenter and comedian, and Dr Kat Arney is a writer and broadcaster who has published a book on genetics.

A Hat Trick production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2017.

Did the Victorians Ruin the World?: Series 1

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Sci-curious comedian Helen Arney and her sister Dr Kat Arney present revisionist revelations about our Victorian forebears that could turn what we think we know upside down.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Did the Victorians Ruin the World?

Series 1

Darwinism

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4