Fresh from the success of its bicentennial party last year, Shrewsbury will once again be celebrating the life and times of its most famous son – but for the first time squeezing an event-packed 2010 Darwin Festival into one long weekend.

Recognised as one of the leading events of its kind in the world, the festival – which opens on February 12 – aims to encourage even more visitors to historic Shrewsbury by switching to a weekend event.

Dubbed “England’s finest Tudor town” thanks to its wealth of historic buildings, Darwin would still recognise much of his home town today – just as he did when he returned to Shrewsbury following his epic voyage on board HMS Beagle.

Born at The Mount, on February 12, 1809, Charles Robert Darwin went on to become one of the undisputed “Men of the Millennium”, laying the foundation of all modern evolutionary thinking.

Jon King, Darwin co-ordinator at Shropshire Council, said: “Last year Shrewsbury was at the forefront of marking Darwin’s life and ideas as part of the bi-centenary celebrations of Charles Darwin’s birth, as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of his most famous work On the Origin of Species.

“For 2010, the Darwin Festival will once again bring together authors, biographers, historians and members of the public to mark his life and works. And as well as now taking place over a long weekend, the 2010 Festival is also placing a bigger emphasis on the young with around half of the programming aimed at students.”

Darwin was the son of Robert, a well-respected doctor, and Susannah a member of the Wedgwood family. His formative years were well spent and his love and curiosity of the natural world was positively encouraged and flourished.