By politics.co.uk staff

Every secondary school in England and Wales will receive a free DVD by renowned atheist Richard Dawkins to celebrate the anniversary of Darwin's Origin of the Species.

The speech was originally delivered as part of the professor's 1991 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for children, and is being distributed by the British Humanist Association with funding from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.

"Increasing young people's understanding of science has never been more important," Professor Dawkins said.

"The lectures explore a number of themes and tasks young people to think critically about the world around them and to explore the awe and wonder that the magnificence and complexity of the natural world, which has evolved over billions of years, can arouse."

Andrew Copson, BHA director of education, said: "We know that some teachers already use these lectures as end-of-term videos, and are confident that their versatility and breadth of topics covered will allow teachers across many subject areas to make the best use of this important resource in their own ways."

Prof Dawkins is a divisive figure in the debate over religion, especially after the runaway success of his bestselling book 'The God Delusion', which is credited by some as having revived a lagging atheist movement in the UK and America.

This year is the 200th anniversary of Charles Dawin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal text 'On the Origin of Species'.