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I didn't know to the other week that Ruth Padel is Charles Darwin's great-great grandaughter. This only came up because it has been the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Great Bearded One, and the BBC has been doing loads of stuff on him, so Ruth has managed to get herself a lot of slots on radio (she's been doing talks, Desert Island Discs etc). In doing so she confirmed Darwin's doubts about Lamarck: that is the inheritance of acquired characteristics. She has been stunningly anodyne, and proved that talent doesn't run in families. -- David Bircumshaw Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/ The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk