It’s not entirely clear whether Darwin would have been distracted by cultural phenomena, like Star Wars.

There were equivalents. Charles Dickens was a publishing phenomenon during the middle of the 19th century. Charles and Emma read the latest novels to each other. Bleak House (1852-53), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1856) would have occupied his time in the years of his main writing. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) came out the same year as the origin.

Whether Charles would have rushed out to get a David Copperfield doll, a limited edition Fagin top-hat or a Pickwick Papers paper set I do not know. But I’m sure that at least some of the time that Darwin spent strolling along the Sandwalk was spent in thinking about the plot of the latest Dickens.