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I'm travelling in the footsteps
of one of the great forgotten

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heroes of natural history,
Alfred Russel Wallace.

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I first heard about Wallace when
I was trekking through the jungles

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of Indonesia 15 years ago and I've
been fascinated by him ever since.

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I guess you could say

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he's the missing link in
the story of evolution.

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Wallace was the most prolific
collector of the Victorian age.

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He discovered 5,000 new species.

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Wallace would have had you, mate!

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But he was so much more than
just a bug collector.

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Along with Charles Darwin,

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he came up with one of the greatest
scientific ideas of all time,

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the theory of evolution
by natural selection.

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They each made their discovery
independently.

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But unlike Darwin,
Wallace came from humble origins

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and got there against all odds.

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I'm Bill Bailey...

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Ding, ding.

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..and I'm on an extraordinary
adventure to show you how Wallace

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made this momentous breakthrough.

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I'll be meeting curious creatures...

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That was amazing!

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..and immersing myself in the world
of the Victorian explorer...

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Look at this.

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..with a bit of traffic
calming on the side.

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That's it, come on.

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I want to put Wallace back
on the map, because Darwin wasn't

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the only one to discover
the driving force of evolution.

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It's a total injustice

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and I'm on a mission to get Wallace
the recognition he deserves.

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Alfred Russel Wallace set
sail from England in 1854,

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destined for the little-known
Malay Archipelago.

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He would spend eight years exploring
some of the thousands of islands

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that now make up Indonesia, Malaysia
and Singapore.

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In his early 30s,
he was an untrained bug collector,

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but he had big ideas.

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His quest was to solve the great
mystery of the age,

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the origin of species.

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So far, I've retraced the first two
years of his epic journey,

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which took him
deep into the heart of Borneo.

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Here, he discovered
hundreds of amazing new species,

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including the first-ever -
and fantastical - flying frog.

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Wow! Look at that!

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And he'd published
a scientific paper

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setting out his idea that all
species evolved from earlier forms.

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He still hadn't figured out what
made it happen,

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but his travels
so far had convinced him

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this was the clearest
explanation for life on Earth.

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It was like a keen amateur
astronomer writing to Stephen
Hawking,

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saying, "Dear Stephen, I've
worked out the theory of everything.

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"I await your prompt response."

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But his paper was
ignored by the powers that be,

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including the great Charles Darwin,
who dismissed it as nothing new.

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So after two years of mud
and leeches in the jungles,

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Wallace was more determined than
ever to discover

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how evolution actually worked.

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In January 1856, he left
Borneo and sailed more than 3,000
kilometres

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via Singapore, Bali and
Lombok to the island of Sulawesi.

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Initially this was just a stopover
as he ventured east,

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but the creatures on Sulawesi were
so curious and unique,

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he returned a further three times.

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This amazing island is
where I pick up his story.

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And with
the help of my guide Bobby,

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I'm searching for a tree-dwelling
creature that would become

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a key piece of his evolutionary
puzzle.

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So Bobby, how do you find
a bear cuscus?

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Well, I can smell.

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You can smell them? Yes, yes, I can
smell. The pee is very stinky.

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The pee? Yes, very stinky.

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Right, so it's a very strong,
pungent smell, yeah? Very strong
yes. Oh right, OK.

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See if you can sniff one out.

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Oh, up here. Just here, yeah.

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Oh, yeah. Got it. You got it? Yeah.

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That's the first time I've ever seen
one of these creatures, a bear
cuscus.

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And they are quite extraordinary.
They're unique.

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You only find them here in Sulawesi.

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I've seen other kinds of cuscus
throughout Indonesia

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but this one is the only one that
moves around during the day

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so it's a lot easier to see.

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His face resembles quite
a cross sloth.

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You know...sloths are quite benign,
almost sort of sleepy-looking.

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But these look just like they're
angry about something.

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And in fact these are supposed to be
active during the day

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but, I mean, that's not
really active, is it?

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I mean, he scratched his ear once,

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that's really at the low
end of active.

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What excited
Wallace about this lazy cuscus

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is it's a marsupial,
a relative of Australian

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mammals like kangaroos,
that carry their young in pouches.

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And these weren't the only
Australian creatures on this island.

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He also came across Australian
birds like cockatoos.

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Wallace was starting to see
a pattern.

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From his travels so far,
he knew that on the western islands

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there were Asian animals, monkeys,
orang-utans, elephants,

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and yet now he'd encountered
Australian creatures.

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To Wallace, this was compelling
evidence that he'd sailed

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over some kind of frontier,
which marked a meeting point

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of two great animal groups,
Asian and Australian.

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This dramatic boundary would become
known as the Wallace Line.

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It would take him
years to realise the significance

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of this discovery, but it would
become his greatest ammunition

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to challenge the established
ideas of the church, and science.

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And there's an animal here
that can help me explain

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just what he was up against.

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They live inside strangler fig trees
and only emerge after dark.

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Tarsiers.

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Tarsiers have huge eyes.
Each one is bigger than its brain.

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Aw! They look cute, don't they?

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Don't let the big eyes fool you.
These are vicious little killers.

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That was amazing. It came flying
over my shoulder like a little
gremlin shot out of a cannon.

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I told you they were
ruthless, vicious hunters.

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The tarsier,
nemesis of the grasshopper.

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Victorian scientists believed
all creatures were made by God.

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So God would create tarsiers
with big eyes

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and tarsiers would remain exactly
the same,

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generation after generation,

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until their habitat changed
and they went extinct.

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Then God would create
a new model of the tarsier,

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ideally adapted to the new
environment.

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This idea was called
Natural Theology.

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But Wallace thought differently.

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And this was the big question -

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were they just the latest version of
tarsier created by God,

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or had they
evolved from smaller-eyed ancestors?

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Wallace was convinced that species
changed gradually over time,

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and he was determined to prove it.

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But the jungles of Indonesia were a
punishing place to gather evidence.

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Living in remote villages, Wallace
had no choice but to go native.

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So to get a sense of what
life was like, Bobby's cooked me

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a dish that Wallace nibbled on
while he was here in Sulawesi.

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Right, so, Bobby, what is this?

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This is fruit bat. Oh, right.
And what does that taste like, then?

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Just like rat.

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BILL LAUGHS
Oh, right. It tastes like rat.

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That wasn't exactly that
helpful, but here goes.

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All right, then. Cheers, cheers.

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Mmm!

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You know, if I'm following in
Wallace's footsteps,

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he was offered a fricassee of bats
in the local village.

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You know...a lot of things.

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He skinned a lot of birds
and ATE a lot of birds

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and then once it got so bad,
he actually said that, er,

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he had to make a small parakeet
do for two meals, so you know, they
were slim pickings.

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But he was in remote parts of the
world,

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he couldn't be picky about
his food.

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So neither can I.

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Mmm! Couldn't
trouble you for some HP Sauce?

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Ketchup?

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BILL LAUGHS

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That's about it, I guess!

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When he wasn't eating
potential specimens, Wallace

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was sending them home to sell to
museums and private enthusiasts.

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Look at this.

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I caught one.

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And in August 1856,
he sent a duck and a jungle fowl

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to a new and esteemed acquaintance,
a certain Mr Charles Darwin.

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Darwin had contacted
Wallace out of the blue,

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asking for specimens to help
with his studies on evolution.

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Wallace was thrilled.

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But to Darwin, Wallace was just one
of many collectors assisting him.

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Darwin was already famous for his
voyage around the world on the
Beagle.

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He was wealthy,
Cambridge-educated and connected.

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Wallace was an outsider,

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whose feckless father had squandered
the family money,

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forcing him to leave school at 14
and earn a living.

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But their lives were on a collision
course

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that would come to
rock Darwin's world.

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The longer Wallace
spent on Sulawesi,

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the more it puzzled him.

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The cuscus and tarsiers weren't
the only curiosities.

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So many bizarre creatures
here were unique,

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found nowhere else in the world.

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And it was on this very beach more
than 150 years ago

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that Wallace encountered one of the
strangest of all, Sulawesi macaques.

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They really are quite odd-looking
creatures, small, compact,

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jet-black fur, and as Wallace wrote,
about the size of a spaniel.

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They've got this strange hair
and big foreheads

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and a permanent
look of surprise on their faces.

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They really are peculiar-looking
creatures.

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What?

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OK, so maybe
there is a passing resemblance.

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He wrote how they would stare at him
in astonishment as he went
collecting.

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Ten o'clock, monkey incoming.

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We've obviously attracted
a bit of attention here.

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We've got the whole family's
turned up to have a look at us.

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And they haven't lost
that natural curiosity.

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This one's just checking me out!

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I've obviously been
accepted as part primate.

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Wallace had encountered other
species of macaques on his travels.

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All were brown, and had tails.

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But their cousins on Sulawesi were
black and tailless.

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And they had mohicans.

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Wallace wanted to understand why
these monkeys,

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and the other creatures here,
were so different.

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Something about this island drove
species to change.

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He was convinced the answer lay in
the seas surrounding the island.

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When he looked at his map,

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he noted that Sulawesi was
surrounded by very deep waters.

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Wallace believed these deep seas

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had imprisoned the animals
on the island.

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The creatures here had been
isolated for millions of years.

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This long period of isolation was
the key to explaining

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the startling strangeness
of the creatures here.

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On Sulawesi, evolution had thrown up
some bizarre-looking oddballs,

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which is true I suppose of any
isolated rural community.

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For Wallace, this was
powerful evidence

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to support his view that species
changed gradually over time.

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Animals isolated on islands
became distinct new forms.

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Wallace was getting
closer to figuring out

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the driving force for evolution.

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To add to his excitement,
eight months after dispatching

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the duck to his hero Charles Darwin,
he received a reply.

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Darwin offered encouraging words,

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but failed to mention he'd already
discovered how evolution works.

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In fact, he'd cracked it nearly
20 years earlier

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but hadn't published a word and had
told only a few close friends.

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Since returning from his Voyage of
the Beagle, Darwin had settled into

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home life and had been sketching
out his theory of natural selection.

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But the years had gone by,
and being such a perfectionist

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he was still reluctant to publish.
He needed more evidence.

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So he took the advice of the eminent
botanist Joseph Hooker

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and began an in-depth
study of a whole group of animals

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to give his voice greater
authority on the subject of species.

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Darwin chose barnacles -

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small, manageable, perfect
for the stay-at-home naturalist,

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and after eight years
of painstaking work,

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Darwin was now the world expert
in barnacles,

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as you would indeed hope to be.

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But Darwin's friends
in the scientific elite
were getting jittery.

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They feared he might be
scooped to publishing his theory.

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One of his closest allies
was Charles Lyell,

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another wealthy scientist,
Oxford educated and world renowned.

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00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:13,200
In 1856, Lyell urged Darwin to
re-read the Sarawak Law,

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the paper Wallace had written
two years earlier in Borneo.

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In it, Wallace used the analogy
of an evolutionary tree to explain

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how similar species are related
through common ancestors.

237
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,520
Darwin could now see Wallace was
onto something.

238
00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:37,000
So he wrote him a letter that has
been aptly described as a polite
trespass notice.

239
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,040
I'll read you this section here.

240
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,960
"This summer will make
the 20th year (!) since I opened

241
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,160
"my first notebook on the question
of how and in what way

242
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,200
"do species and varieties
differ from each other.

243
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:54,800
"I am now
preparing my work for publication,

244
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,600
"but I find the subject so very
large that though I have written
many chapters,

245
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,440
"I do not suppose I will go
to press for another two years.

246
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:06,720
"I have never heard how long you
intend staying in the Malay
Archipelago."

247
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,440
Well, to me, in today's language,
it's clear what this says.

248
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:14,400
"I've been working on this for 20
years, this is my patch - back off!

249
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,360
"And by the way - don't hurry back!"

250
00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,480
For Darwin, the race to
publish his theory was on.

251
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:25,440
He feared that Wallace,

252
00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,640
the lowly bug collector with no
formal training, could beat him

253
00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,720
to one of the greatest scientific
theories of all time.

254
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:41,080
Wallace, on the other hand,

255
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,400
was oblivious to the fact
he was even in a race.

256
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,760
He was simply delighted to be in
correspondence with the great
Charles Darwin.

257
00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:57,080
But Wallace couldn't
afford to spend his time theorising.

258
00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,680
He had more pressing
matters to deal with.

259
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,320
As a freelance collector,

260
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:05,120
he was completely reliant on the
money his specimens would make

261
00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:10,080
when sold to museums back home, and
his funds were in a desperate state.

262
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,760
Wallace was skint, and unless
he could find some way of earning

263
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:21,400
money sharpish, he was going to have
to return home, accept failure,

264
00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,200
which would have been a crushing
blow,

265
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:25,240
since he was so tantalisingly close

266
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,640
to unravelling the origin of
species, this mystery of mysteries.

267
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,000
Wallace took a huge gamble.

268
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:43,920
He decided to go in search of highly
prized birds of paradise.

269
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,760
These birds held near mythical
status.

270
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:51,320
Locals believed
they'd descended from heaven.

271
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,160
If he could find them,

272
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,080
he would make enough money
continue his intellectual quest.

273
00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,920
It was birds of paradise or bust.

274
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,160
And certainly no European had ever
seen them in the wild,

275
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,680
never seen their legendary
dancing displays.

276
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,120
So for Wallace, this was a powerful
double incentive -

277
00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:13,920
to be the first European to see
these dazzling marvels of nature

278
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,800
and to capture one, well, that
would earn him a fortune back home,

279
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,680
not to mention the huge boost
to his reputation.

280
00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,320
So for Wallace, the naturalist
and the collector,

281
00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,160
finding birds of paradise was
the ultimate prize.

282
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:32,440
What he couldn't have known was that
the islands on which the birds lived

283
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,520
would provide a major breakthrough

284
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,120
in his understanding of the origin
of species.

285
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,600
Like Wallace, I'm going
in search of birds of paradise.

286
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,880
My quest is to find
Wallace's standardwing,

287
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,880
the species he described
as his greatest discovery.

288
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,800
My search takes me 300 kilometres
east

289
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,360
to the volcanic island of Ternate,

290
00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:01,920
the heart of an ancient kingdom
ruled by a sultan.

291
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,760
Before Wallace could begin
his search for birds of paradise,

292
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,600
he had to seek the sultan's
permission.

293
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,840
I'm travelling there to do the same,

294
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:20,000
and I can see why Wallace
fell in love with this place.

295
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,080
Very little has changed in the times
since Wallace was here.

296
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,680
Occasionally,
the volcanoes will blow their top

297
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,720
but other than that, this is
the scene which would have

298
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,520
greeted Wallace as he sailed
towards Ternate.

299
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,880
Wallace describes
the town as a tropical haven,

300
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,800
surrounded by lush fruit trees.

301
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,040
These days, it's home
to around 160,000 people...

302
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,320
..most of them in one vehicle.

303
00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,880
Ternate was Wallace's base for
numerous collecting trips over three
years.

304
00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:05,160
Ho, hey!

305
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,720
And the people here haven't
forgotten him.

306
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,640
So before my appointment
at the sultan's palace,

307
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,600
I'm going in search of any
reminders of his time here.

308
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,360
There's
an alleyway named after him.

309
00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,600
Well, it's better than nothing,
I suppose.

310
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,280
And then
something quite extraordinary.

311
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,000
Hah! Hah-ha ha!

312
00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:41,040
Wow! This is brilliant.
This is Wallace-based graffiti.

313
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,840
I don't think there's anywhere else
in the world you would see this.

314
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,360
And this is academic graffiti.

315
00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:51,040
Complimentary graffiti, and it's
actually quite witty as well because

316
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:57,720
it says, "Alfred Russel Wallace,
ilmuan Ternate, kelahiran Inggris".

317
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:02,400
And that means
Ternate scientist born in England.

318
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:10,320
The Ternate graffiti artists
are claiming Wallace for their own.

319
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,840
So after a quick scrub-up
and securing the only Panama hat

320
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,680
this side of the Wallace line,
I'm off to the palace.

321
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,160
Right, then. Let's go.

322
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:00,880
In Wallace's day,

323
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:05,160
the sultan of Ternate was
an eccentric, one-eyed octogenarian

324
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,760
who ruled over a vast swathe of
islands

325
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,440
stretching hundreds of kilometres.

326
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,720
If Wallace wanted to explore them,
he needed the sultan's permission.

327
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,040
So he'd bring a gift to
curry favour.

328
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,360
I've bought the sultan
a tin of biscuits from Harrods.

329
00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,280
I'm not sure whether that's
an appropriate gift for a sultan.

330
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,440
It might be a bit rubbish.

331
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,400
He might normally get a speedboat
or a helicopter or something.

332
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:47,400
So that could be a bit lame by
comparison, but, um...I dunno.

333
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,840
They are nice biscuits. I mean,
they're REALLY nice biscuits.

334
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:51,920
You know.

335
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,360
Eventually I'm summoned.

336
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:09,880
Please sit down.

337
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:26,640
Are you from the government, or...?

338
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,320
Me? No, I'm actually an actor.

339
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,440
HE SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE

340
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,680
You make jokes? Yes!

341
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,760
Why don't you make jokes after
this... Yes, I was going to make...
..with our mayor?

342
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:42,240
THEY ALL LAUGH

343
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,760
The first time Wallace visit
Ternate, this is the place he comes.

344
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,400
Yes? This is the place.
He came here? Yes. I see.

345
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:58,960
Do you think the people of Ternate,
there is a sense of pride, they are
proud of this...

346
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:00,720
Especially me.

347
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:04,000
Especially you? Uh, yeah. Very proud
about Wallace, what he has done.

348
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,680
Yes. Yes.

349
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,240
They do not do that in England. No!

350
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,000
It's a pity.

351
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,080
It is. It's a terrible pity.
It's an injustice.

352
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,440
Injustice, yeah.

353
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,600
I've never met
a sultan before,

354
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,480
but he seems like a decent chap
so in front of his crown,

355
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,280
I ask for approval to
search for birds of paradise.

356
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,920
May we have your permission to
explore the area?

357
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,240
Yes. Of course you can,
I'll give you my letter.

358
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,000
So we just show them this letter and
say the sultan... Yes.
..said it was OK?

359
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:35,440
Is on duty from the sultan.

360
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,160
OK.

361
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,800
It was a little bit
sort of formal at the beginning.

362
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,640
Everyone was standing around in this
kind of phalanx and he's sitting on
a throne.

363
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,840
It's slightly awkward talking to
someone on a throne.

364
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,240
I felt like I was about ten years
old

365
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,080
talking to the headmaster
about running in the corridors

366
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:01,240
for the first five minutes and
then sort of relaxed a little bit

367
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,480
and then we talked about Wallace

368
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,520
and he was very, very voluble

369
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,080
and very kind of expansive about
Wallace, which was brilliant.

370
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,680
With permission from the palace,

371
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,320
I now need to find
a seaworthy vessel

372
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,720
to take me to the
birds of paradise.

373
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,960
That will require some serious
negotiation.

374
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,080
Wallace was short of money and on
his many trips between the islands,

375
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,400
he had to haggle with the local boat
owners to get the best price,

376
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,880
and that's exactly what I'm going
to do with this chap over here.
I'm going to drive a hard bargain.

377
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,440
Except I'm a bit rubbish at
haggling. I'm liable to say,

378
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:48,000
"Mm, that sounds perfectly
reasonable," at the first price
he suggests.

379
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:52,840
Wallace writes how it is absolutely
necessary to offer very little,

380
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,840
as the natives are never satisfied
till you add a little more.

381
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,640
BILL AND BOAT OWNER
CONVERSE IN LOCAL LANGUAGE

382
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,120
He wants two million.
That's quite a lot.

383
00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,040
I'm going to go in low. Go 500,000.

384
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:17,640
BILL SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE

385
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:23,440
He wants 1.5.

386
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:24,920
BILL SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE

387
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,440
I've told him it's my birthday.
Sometimes works.

388
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:38,440
OK. We settle on one million
rupiah, about £60.

389
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,560
The old birthday trick -
works every time!

390
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,720
It's a two-hour
crossing to the island of Halmahera.

391
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,600
Even today, if you're travelling
around Indonesia,

392
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,440
you're going to have to get on a
little boat like this at some point

393
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,880
and in Wallace's time he had no
choice - this was the only means

394
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,760
of transport between the islands
and Wallace was terrified of boats.

395
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:07,600
Everything that could go
wrong did go wrong.

396
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,840
An anchor broke free, a crew would
be stranded on an island

397
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,440
for weeks at a time,
rats would eat the sail,

398
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:18,200
they encountered storms, tsunamis,
even a venomous snake got on board.

399
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,160
Yet it's a measure of the man,
he never complained,

400
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:22,440
he stuck to his task,

401
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,520
such was his determination and
strength of purpose.

402
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,520
Wallace's obsessive
collecting meant

403
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:32,720
he was constantly island-hopping.

404
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,000
Over the eight
years of his expedition,

405
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,280
he sailed over 22,000 kilometres.

406
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,440
His findings supported what he'd
seen on Sulawesi.

407
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:53,920
Isolated animals became new
and distinct species.

408
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,360
Islands are natural
laboratories for evolution.

409
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,040
By choosing Indonesia,
with 17,000 of them,

410
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:06,440
Wallace had chanced upon one
of the best spots on Earth

411
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,880
to study how species change.

412
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:19,520
But this was also a dangerous,
lawless corner of the world,

413
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,480
and his plans to find birds of
paradise were scuppered by pirates.

414
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,960
They were part of the notorious
Bugis tribe

415
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,640
whose fearful reputation has led
some to believe their name is

416
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:33,840
the origin of the mythical bogeyman.

417
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:38,240
And he writes with typical
Victorian understatement.

418
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,160
"The natives were of course
dreadfully alarmed,

419
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,280
"as these marauders attack
their villages, burn and murder

420
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,440
"and carry away women
and children for slaves."

421
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,000
Well, that would make you a bit
tense, wouldn't it?

422
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,600
I mean, can you imagine what it
was like for him

423
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,680
150 years ago, out here in this
remote part of the world, alone?

424
00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:02,760
The pirates were eventually captured
and executed - so that told 'em!

425
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,400
But Wallace was back on course
for birds of paradise.

426
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,320
Like Wallace, I'm heading
deep into the interior

427
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:17,560
on a journey that will reveal
more about this remarkable man.

428
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,440
I'm searching for his greatest
treasure,

429
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:26,720
the standardwing that, admittedly,
doesn't sound that exciting.

430
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:31,200
Other birds of paradise have names
far more befitting of their beauty,

431
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,280
the red bird of paradise, the king
bird of paradise,

432
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,080
the superb bird of paradise,

433
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,720
the magnificent bird of paradise,

434
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,800
so the standardwing
sounds a bit plain by comparison,

435
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,240
just your basic wing, yes, like
your standard wing.

436
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,280
It's misleading,
because it's anything but.

437
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,640
The dugout canoes could
only take Wallace so far.

438
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,320
After that, he'd have to hike
miles on foot.

439
00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,120
He wrote of one trek
how the constant walking in water

440
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:04,160
destroyed his shoes, and forced him
to walk in his stockings,

441
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:08,360
so he reached his jungle
hut quite lame.

442
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:10,640
You know, this is quite
amazing terrain.

443
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:15,280
We've just walked down a waterfall
which actually, surprisingly,

444
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,280
was not that slippy underfoot.

445
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,080
This is really the only way
to do it - barefoot.

446
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:25,240
This is the kind of journey that
Wallace would have made

447
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,680
right into the interior to see
these birds of paradise,

448
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,160
and all I can say is,
I hope they're worth it.

449
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,920
The best way to find
birds of paradise is to search

450
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,880
for their display tree, since they
use the same tree every morning.

451
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:48,800
What about this one?

452
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,760
And my guide, Janis, says
he knows where the tree is.

453
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:54,640
That's it, that's...that one there.

454
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,920
HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE
You sure?

455
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:00,240
But I'm beginning to wonder -
he might just be winding me up.

456
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:03,480
This one?
HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

457
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:08,920
What about this one?

458
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,400
HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

459
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,840
Well, this isn't
going quite as well as I'd hoped.

460
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,520
But Janis assures me if I return
the following day before dawn,

461
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,480
the bird's raucous calls
will guide me in.

462
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,400
So it's a very early start.

463
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:46,840
Well, it's been about a 20-minute
trek into the jungle up this
muddy path in darkness.

464
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:48,440
It's about 6 o'clock in the morning

465
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,560
and the forest's really
starting to come alive

466
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,360
and I think the birds are very close
so we're going to check them out.

467
00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,000
And sure enough, the birds
make themselves heard.

468
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,640
It's an extraordinary thing.

469
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:19,680
It's a real privilege to see
these in the wild. It's very,
very rare to get this opportunity.

470
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:21,920
And in fact, since Wallace's time,

471
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,880
they've only been spotted
a handful of times.

472
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:30,280
To see one is...just
an extraordinary, rare privilege.

473
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:38,240
All those months of hardship,
the trekking, the boat disasters -

474
00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:42,520
all of that would have just faded
away when he saw these birds.

475
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:50,320
It's incredible
the lengths the males will go to
to impress a female.

476
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:55,040
It's barely light and the jungle is
full of their nasal barks.

477
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,200
All the males have their own
individual call.

478
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,360
It's like they're trying to
out-do each other.

479
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:11,160
It's like, "You've got a
wark-wark-wark. All right -
I've got a WAURK-WAURK-WAURK!"

480
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,440
Their name, the standardwing,

481
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,080
comes from the long,
white feathers

482
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,480
that look a bit
like military standards or flags.

483
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,000
For Wallace, seeing these
birds of paradise -

484
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,680
these entirely NEW
birds of paradise - must have been

485
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,960
an extraordinary
culmination of his quest.

486
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,080
I mean, he came here to see these
birds, to collect them,

487
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,560
but to find an entirely new one,

488
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:42,680
unlike any other bird of paradise,
must have exceeded his wildest
expectations

489
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:46,200
and in fact he writes to his agent
Stevens in a state of gibbering
excitement,

490
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,320
"I consider
this my greatest discovery yet.

491
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,880
During his eight years away,

492
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,200
Wallace collected five different
species of birds of paradise.

493
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:05,320
He was the first European to see
their wildly ostentatious displays.

494
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:12,720
As a collector,
he knew they'd make him money.

495
00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:14,160
But as a naturalist,

496
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:18,240
birds of paradise filled him
with a deep sense of wonder.

497
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,800
He wrote, "I thought of the long
ages of the past,

498
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:32,040
"during which the successive
generations of this little creature

499
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:37,160
"had run their course, year by year
being born, and living and dying

500
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:41,280
"amid these dark and gloomy woods,
with no intelligent eye to gaze upon

501
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:46,480
"their loveliness, to all appearance
such a wanton waste of beauty.

502
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,480
"This consideration must
surely tell us

503
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,320
"that all living things were
not made for man."

504
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,160
And I totally understand what
he means.

505
00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,240
Having seen these birds in these
dark and gloomy woods,

506
00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:02,520
they're just such a surreal
and unexpected delight.

507
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,320
It's like stumbling
across an ancient society performing

508
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,400
a secret ritual.

509
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:12,040
But his search for birds
of paradise also revealed

510
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:17,320
a greater truth and his most
powerful evidence to destroy

511
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,160
the existing view of creation,
Natural Theology.

512
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:26,680
As he explored further
east around New Guinea,

513
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:29,720
he noted more
and more Australian animals.

514
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:36,520
Marsupial cuscus.
Flamboyant cockatoos.

515
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,480
Emu-like cassowaries

516
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:42,200
and even kangaroos.

517
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,640
But these weren't ordinary kangaroos
hopping around on the ground,

518
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,360
these were a hundred feet
up in the jungle canopy.

519
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,080
They were behaving
more like monkeys.

520
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:57,560
And as Wallace noted,

521
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,880
they weren't particularly
well-adapted for climbing trees.

522
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:05,320
Well, large, hind legs, big tail -
it's not ideal, is it?

523
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,680
But Wallace wanted to know
what on earth were they doing here.

524
00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,200
According to Natural Theology,

525
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:20,960
God made animals perfectly adapted
to their habitat and climate.

526
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:25,920
So there should be
just one set of jungle animals
across the archipelago.

527
00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:34,440
For Wallace, this was a conundrum.

528
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,960
Why were there monkeys
in the jungles of Borneo,

529
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,560
kangaroos in the jungles
of New Guinea?

530
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:43,520
The habitat, the climate were the
same, but the animals were
completely different.

531
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:45,680
Perhaps there was more than one god.

532
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,200
Perhaps there was a god for Borneo
and a god for New Guinea.

533
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:49,760
But what about Sulawesi?

534
00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,960
That had its own unique
set of oddities. And why stop there?

535
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:54,840
Why not thousands of gods,

536
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,880
each creating feverishly away
throughout the archipelago?

537
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,680
The argument started to sound
ridiculous.

538
00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:02,480
For Wallace, it was clear.

539
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,600
Natural Theology did
not have the answers.

540
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,800
In fact, it was crumbling under
the weight of its own absurdity.

541
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:13,920
It was a bold,
courageous claim to make.

542
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,520
That was Wallace -
if the facts didn't fit,

543
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,320
he wasn't afraid to speak out.

544
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,800
Now he had some explaining to do.

545
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:25,320
If Natural Theology couldn't predict
the distribution of animals,

546
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:26,840
then what could?

547
00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:35,080
Just as he'd found in Sulawesi,
the answer came from the seas.

548
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:42,400
His maps clearly showed the sea
depths across the archipelago.

549
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,280
In the east, shallow seas linked
Australia, New Guinea

550
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,520
and the surrounding islands.

551
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,880
And in the west,
there were also shallow seas

552
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:55,080
between
Borneo, Sumatra and mainland Asia.

553
00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:03,280
But in the middle, around Sulawesi,
the waters were much deeper.

554
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:07,040
Wallace believed this was key to
explaining distribution.

555
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:08,960
At some point in the recent past,

556
00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:12,040
areas linked by shallow seas
must have been connected.

557
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:17,720
Suddenly, everything fell into
place.

558
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:23,320
A distant ancestor of the kangaroo
bounced from Australia to New Guinea

559
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,240
when these two islands were one
great landmass.

560
00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:31,520
Cockatoos, cuscus
and cassowaries did the same.

561
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,360
From the west,
Asian animals like elephants,

562
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:39,640
tigers and orang-utans worked
their way over great land bridges

563
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:43,520
linking the mainland,
Borneo and Sumatra.

564
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,920
And when conditions changed, the
creatures became trapped on islands.

565
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,800
But in the middle, the waters were
so deep

566
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,560
that there had never
been land bridges.

567
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:59,920
Wallace suggested these islands were
populated by castaways

568
00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:03,000
that had floated there on great
rafts of vegetation,

569
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,840
and because they were isolated for
far longer,

570
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,680
they had developed into
more unique forms.

571
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,000
It was such a simple theory,

572
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,840
but it explained all
the patterns of animal distribution

573
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:22,080
he observed in his years
travelling across the archipelago.

574
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,720
And right down the middle, dividing
these two great animal families,

575
00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:28,960
Asian and Australian, runs
the Wallace Line

576
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:30,640
and, to this day,

577
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:34,240
it marks the most dramatic boundary
of animal life on the planet.

578
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,760
To Wallace,
this was also crucial evidence
to explain the origin of species.

579
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:50,920
He now knew similar
animals on neighbouring islands must
share common ancestors.

580
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:55,360
But one great mystery remained -
what drove species to change?

581
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:06,480
By late 1857, Wallace was heading
for Ternate in high spirits.

582
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:13,480
His prized birds of paradise had
collected a staggering £1,000,

583
00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,680
the equivalent of tens
of thousands in today's money.

584
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:19,760
Wallace could
continue his expedition

585
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:21,760
and for once, he travelled in style.

586
00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:32,920
"At 6am, a cup of tea or coffee is
provided for those who like it.

587
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:39,040
"At 7 to 8, there is a light
breakfast of tea, eggs and sardines.

588
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:45,320
"At 10, Madeira, gin and bitters are
brought on deck as a whet to the

589
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:47,800
"substantial 11 o'clock breakfast,

590
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,840
"which differs from dinner
only in the absence of soup.

591
00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:59,160
"Cups of tea and coffee are brought
around 3pm.

592
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:00,840
"Gin and bitters again at 5.

593
00:43:03,240 --> 00:43:07,080
"A good dinner with beer
and claret at 6.30,

594
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:09,000
"concluded by tea and coffee at 8."

595
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:12,560
BILL CHORTLES

596
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:22,360
After months of hardship, when often
he had nothing much to eat

597
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:26,800
but the odd scrawny bird,
this was sheer luxury for Wallace.

598
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,240
He wrote at the time in a rather
matter of fact way

599
00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:34,720
of bouts of fever, being eaten
alive by insects, dysentery,

600
00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:38,920
ulcers, pustules on his legs
so bad he couldn't walk,

601
00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:41,800
but even through the Victorian
understatement,

602
00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:43,680
it seethes with discomfort.

603
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:48,960
So here he was, for once treating
himself, living like a lord,

604
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:52,120
plenty of money in this pocket,
he was on a high

605
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:56,440
and judging by the amount of alcohol
he put away, drunk out of his mind!

606
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:03,720
Wallace
arrived in Ternate in January 1858.

607
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:09,640
This was the first time
he didn't have financial worries.

608
00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:12,120
He'd earned time to think.

609
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:17,080
The question he asked himself
was always the same -

610
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,160
what drives species to change?

611
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:26,800
But the good times weren't to last.

612
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,360
The months in the jungle had
taken their toll.

613
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:38,520
Wallace fell desperately ill.

614
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:45,680
Vicious bouts of malarial fever kept
him confined to his hut for weeks.

615
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:51,440
His body was weak,
but his mind was racing.

616
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:01,440
Perhaps he was
contemplating his own mortality.

617
00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:04,960
Or maybe he was wondering why
he had survived

618
00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:06,600
while others around him had not.

619
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,760
Whatever it was, something made him

620
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:12,840
recall the work
of the Reverend Thomas Malthus.

621
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:17,720
Malthus was
a controversial scholar

622
00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:21,000
famous for his theories on human
populations.

623
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,880
He believed numbers should increase
exponentially,

624
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:29,760
but are kept in check by a lethal
combination of disease, accidents,

625
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:30,920
war and famine.

626
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:32,920
Eurgh! Bleurgh! Argh! Eurgh!

627
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:39,480
As his fever raged,
Wallace had a flash of inspiration.

628
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:43,480
Surely these same controls must
also act on animals?

629
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:47,000
Suddenly the key question
became obvious.

630
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:51,400
"Why do some live and some die?"

631
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:56,520
Wallace's years of meticulous
observation had shown him that

632
00:45:56,520 --> 00:46:00,360
in the struggle for existence, tiny
variations matter

633
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,120
and that even the slightest
advantage

634
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:05,960
could mean the difference
between life and death.

635
00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:08,320
The flying frog with the biggest
feet

636
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:11,520
would have a better chance of
evading predators.

637
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:16,640
The tarsier with the largest eyes
would find the most food at night.

638
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,840
The beetle with the most powerful
jaws

639
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:21,320
would best defend itself
against rivals

640
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:25,520
and the butterfly with the best
camouflage would be more likely to
survive.

641
00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:34,000
Wallace wrote, "Then it suddenly
flashed upon me

642
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:39,800
"that this self-acting process
would necessarily improve the race,

643
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:43,640
"because in every generation, the
inferior would inevitably be killed
off,

644
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:50,320
"and the superior would remain,
that is, the fittest would survive."

645
00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:55,400
This eureka moment, this epiphany,

646
00:46:55,400 --> 00:47:00,240
changed for ever our understanding
of the natural world

647
00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:02,920
and the way we see life on Earth.

648
00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:12,920
This fevered
flash of inspiration took place

649
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:18,240
in February 1858, almost four years
after his journey began.

650
00:47:18,240 --> 00:47:22,840
Wallace knew immediately
he had cracked it,

651
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:27,200
the driving force for evolution -
natural selection.

652
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:31,080
His constant search for patterns
in nature, and his meticulous

653
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:36,640
eye for detail, had finally unlocked
the great mystery of the age.

654
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:41,920
Imagine you're Wallace for a minute.

655
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:44,760
You've just come up with
possibly the greatest idea

656
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:48,760
in the history of science,
evolution by natural selection.

657
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:52,280
Thousands of miles away in London,
fame and status await,

658
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,520
the chance to stand
shoulder-to-shoulder

659
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:57,000
with the greatest
scientific thinkers of the age.

660
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,840
To be accepted at last.
Well, what would you do?

661
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,600
Most of us would get on the first
boat and sail home into scientific
stardom.

662
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:05,680
But not Wallace.

663
00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:15,440
He wrote a letter to
Charles Darwin, England.

664
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,520
He could have sent
his theory straight for publication.

665
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:23,040
But he wanted a second opinion.

666
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:24,400
He had no way of knowing

667
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:27,240
he was sending it to the only
person in the world

668
00:48:27,240 --> 00:48:29,880
who had already
come up with exactly the same idea.

669
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:37,600
And he just posted it off.
The theory of evolution.

670
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:40,600
One of the greatest thoughts
ever to occur in the human mind,

671
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:42,640
just popped it in the post.

672
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:44,320
And in the letter he wrote,

673
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,360
"I hope this is as new to you
as it is to me, and that it

674
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,200
"would supply the missing factor to
explain the origin of species."

675
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:51,760
The missing factor?

676
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:55,880
The key, the mechanism that
explained the theory of evolution.

677
00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:59,720
He just posted it off like it was
a gardening tip

678
00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:04,600
and that's the true nature of
Wallace, an innocent, naive maybe,

679
00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:06,840
but for him, fame was secondary

680
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:10,680
to the love and appreciation of the
natural world.

681
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:18,240
Wallace's letter took
months to arrive in England.

682
00:49:18,240 --> 00:49:22,480
When Darwin read it,
it sent him into meltdown.

683
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:27,440
Here was the outline of his own
theory, precise and clear.

684
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,680
A scoop on his decades of work.

685
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:32,800
Darwin contacted his close friend,

686
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:35,480
the eminent geologist Charles Lyell,

687
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:39,920
who'd warned him more than two years
earlier to hurry up and publish

688
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:42,080
before someone beat him to it.

689
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:46,640
Darwin wrote bitterly to Lyell,
"Your words have come true with

690
00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:50,320
"a vengeance that
I should be forestalled."

691
00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:54,440
He wrote of Wallace's paper, "I
never saw such a striking
coincidence.

692
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:58,800
"If Wallace had my sketch written
out in 1842 he could not have

693
00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:02,680
"made a better short abstract."

694
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:06,080
You could hear the despair
in Darwin's voice when he wrote,

695
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:10,200
"All my originality, whatever that
may amount to, will be smashed."

696
00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:19,240
Lyell and distinguished botanist
Joseph Hooker cooked up a plan.

697
00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:22,600
They would present Wallace's
Ternate letter

698
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:28,680
along with two excerpts from
Darwin's work never
intended for publication.

699
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:31,480
And Darwin's name would be
placed first,

700
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,000
to ensure that he was
seen as the originator of the idea.

701
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,640
Darwin agonised over it.

702
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:41,280
He called the whole thing
a "trumpery affair" saying

703
00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:45,400
he would rather burn his whole book
than he or any other man think

704
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:48,920
he behaved in such a paltry spirit.

705
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:52,160
Yet in the end,
he went along with it.

706
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:56,720
They never even asked Wallace's
permission to publish.

707
00:50:56,720 --> 00:51:00,560
The establishment weren't going to
let their man lose priority,

708
00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,680
so they cooked up this connivance,
which has been described at best

709
00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:10,720
as a delicate arrangement, or at
worst, an ethically reprehensible
cover-up.

710
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:17,640
The Darwin-Wallace
Theory of Natural Selection

711
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:20,240
was announced to the world in
London in July 1858.

712
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:27,000
Wallace was still away
searching for birds of paradise.

713
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:29,640
He didn't find
out for another three months,

714
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:33,760
when letters from Darwin
and Hooker arrived in Ternate.

715
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:38,360
Just over a year later in 1859,
Darwin's hastily written book

716
00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:43,080
On The Origin Of Species
was published.

717
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:47,720
A new word entered the scientific
vocabulary - Darwinism.

718
00:51:47,720 --> 00:51:50,360
But it could have been very
different.

719
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:54,000
What would have happened if Wallace
had not sent his paper to Darwin,

720
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:56,960
and had instead sent it straight for
publication?

721
00:51:56,960 --> 00:52:01,880
Well, now we'd be talking
about Wallace's theory of evolution.

722
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:05,520
To me it's clear.
Wallace was robbed.

723
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:10,840
And having
travelled in his footsteps,

724
00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:14,560
the injustice now seems even
greater.

725
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:18,600
My journey's taught me that Wallace
really did get there against all
odds.

726
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:25,480
Even today, the islands he visited
are really hard to get to.

727
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,880
He was fearless,
living with headhunting tribes

728
00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:32,400
and enduring incredible hardships.

729
00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:36,400
But my expedition has also given me
an idea of what drove him on.

730
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:41,560
The sense of adventure,

731
00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:46,280
of discovery and of sheer delight
at the beauty of the natural world.

732
00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:50,080
And it's that I think which
I realise is what sustained Wallace

733
00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:54,520
throughout those long years
of hardship and isolation

734
00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:58,040
and now I have an even greater
respect for this courageous,

735
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:00,200
unassuming and remarkable man.

736
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:14,320
Wallace's story doesn't end there.

737
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:19,320
When he finally arrived home
in 1862, after eight years away,

738
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:23,240
he was at last welcomed
into scientific society.

739
00:53:23,240 --> 00:53:26,400
He wasn't bitter about Darwin
taking the credit.

740
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:28,480
For the self-taught amateur,

741
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:32,720
it was enough to be able to walk
tall amongst the great and the good.

742
00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:36,400
And when he finally wrote up
the story of his adventures

743
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:39,440
in his superb travelogue
The Malay Archipelago,

744
00:53:39,440 --> 00:53:42,240
his fame spread
far beyond scientific circles.

745
00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:45,240
And guess who he dedicated it to?

746
00:53:45,240 --> 00:53:47,360
Yeah, Charles Darwin.

747
00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:50,720
"Not only as a token of personal
esteem and friendship, but also

748
00:53:50,720 --> 00:53:55,880
"to express my deep admiration
for his genius and his works."

749
00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:59,760
And when Darwin read Wallace's book,
he wrote to him, saying,

750
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:02,960
"That you have returned
alive is wonderful after

751
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:04,800
"all your risks and sea voyages.

752
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:09,080
"Of all the impressions that
I have received from your book, the

753
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:12,680
"strongest is that your perseverance
in the cause of science was heroic."

754
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:16,960
His book was an overnight success.

755
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:21,520
It is one of the greatest travel
journals ever written,

756
00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:24,520
and incredibly has never
been out of print.

757
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:30,400
In his lifetime, honours were
heaped upon him,

758
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:34,440
Including the Order of Merit
from King Edward VII,

759
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:36,560
the highest award bestowed
upon a civilian.

760
00:54:38,720 --> 00:54:39,760
Taxi!

761
00:54:41,240 --> 00:54:45,080
And when he died,
he wasn't just a famous naturalist,

762
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:49,160
he was one of the most famous
people in the world.
So why has Wallace been forgotten?

763
00:54:49,160 --> 00:54:52,560
Is it just because Darwin wrote
the big tome on evolution,

764
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:55,600
and history favours
one name over two?

765
00:54:55,600 --> 00:54:56,760
Or is there some other reason?

766
00:54:58,360 --> 00:55:03,720
It might just be me, but
I sometimes wonder if, even today,

767
00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:06,920
there isn't a closing of ranks
from the scientific establishment,

768
00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:11,600
keen to keep Darwin on a pedestal,
and Wallace in the shadows.

769
00:55:11,600 --> 00:55:16,440
I've had academics come sidling up
to me and surreptitiously say,

770
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:20,560
"If you want any information about
Wallace, here's my business card."

771
00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:26,040
Like they're still wary of publicly
giving Wallace his due.

772
00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:32,760
But now, after
years of championing his cause,

773
00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:37,400
and fittingly on the centenary
of his death, it's my chance to

774
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:40,680
put Alfred Russel Wallace back where
he rightfully belongs.

775
00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:43,760
When I first began my Wallace
journey many months ago,

776
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:48,000
I came here to the Natural History
Museum, and whilst Darwin was

777
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:51,760
pride of place in the Central Hall,
Wallace was nowhere to be seen.

778
00:55:56,280 --> 00:56:00,160
So tonight in front
of a distinguished audience,

779
00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:02,280
including members of Wallace's
family,

780
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:05,840
I've been invited to unveil his
portrait alongside Darwin's statue.

781
00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:14,800
So hello, friends of the museum,
fellow Wallace aficionados.

782
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:16,480
Thank you for being here tonight.

783
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:18,960
I hope that this visible presence,

784
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:24,080
here in this magnificent building
will spark renewed interest

785
00:56:24,080 --> 00:56:30,040
in Wallace's extraordinary
life and works, and maybe as

786
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:36,240
he did with me, inspire people to
make their own voyages of discovery.

787
00:56:36,240 --> 00:56:42,640
So welcome back to the Natural
History Museum

788
00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:44,040
Alfred Russel Wallace.

789
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:48,120
APPLAUSE

790
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:03,120
With Wallace back in his place,
I can catch up with

791
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:07,520
Sir David Attenborough, who saw me
off on my journey all those months
ago.

792
00:57:07,520 --> 00:57:11,840
You've gone along Wallace's
tracks for a long way. Yes.

793
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,840
I mean you, you've been most
of his journey. Yes, we did.

794
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:17,800
We saw actually one of Wallace's
flying frogs in Borneo.

795
00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:21,040
Oh, did you?
I've never seen them fly.

796
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:24,080
What did you do, throw it up
in the air and see whether it flew?

797
00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:26,640
He needed quite
a lot of encouragement,

798
00:57:26,640 --> 00:57:30,120
and I thought, this really won't
look very good if I just chuck him

799
00:57:30,120 --> 00:57:37,480
up in the air, so I sort of
encouraged him, and he did, he leapt
and glided through the air.

800
00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:40,960
And some of the,
the Sulawesi macaques as well,
they were just extraordinary.

801
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:43,200
Oh, with the funny... With the
mohicans.

802
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:46,320
And um, I was accepted by the troop.

803
00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:48,240
Oh, it's just something about you?

804
00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:51,000
I think it's something about me.

805
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:53,760
I think they saw a family
resemblance, perhaps.

806
00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:57,760
Anyway, great to talk to you
and thank you so much.

807
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,600
Congratulations. Thank you.

808
00:58:01,760 --> 00:58:03,560
Well, this is it.

809
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:09,160
This has been an extraordinary
Wallace journey, started here,

810
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:14,960
took me halfway round the world,
and now we've come back full circle.

811
00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:17,720
I can't help feeling a great
sense of achievement

812
00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:21,160
and I know he was a shy
and unassuming man,

813
00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:25,280
but I bet he would be thrilled to be
back where he belongs.

814
00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:55,040
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