Round and Round by Curmudgeon

Radials read from edge to centre or vice versa, twenty of each. Contents of the circles can be read in either direction. A theory that was once held and a simple explanation of it appear in the circle next to the outer one. The circle next to the innermost names a champion of the theory and his opinion. The wordplay of each clue contains an extra letter in addition to the solution. These letters, in clue order, give an instruction to solvers. Chambers (2008) is recommended.

Radials (6)
1    Compelling protest with energy involving high explosive and sharp blow
2    Better placed to have a row, produces unorthodox rare IOU
3    Colourless individual's voice surrounding gaol
4    Insomiac's limits after subject to atmosphere of dreams
5    Lost dog wandering in poet's marigolds
6    Carping women who get round but lose a bit of dignity in places of education
7    Hapless strayers are lost in areas of quicksand in works of poetry
8    Erinys riled without Pan-pipes
9    Governing body looked worried
10    Talks monotonously on in garbled Old Norse, with no introduction
11    Stable plant of the sea lavender genus
12    Liquid myrrh sent back around the start of Lent, producing striking effects
13    Glasgow's ragged useless person on provincial council
14    Cameron's diligent sound sequence in early English
15    Boundless dodgy firetraps operating in defiance of the official system
16    What've I regularly swallowed? Fly?
17    Adorns US chap with English jewels
18    Sticky tangled rosemary with nothing lost
19    Poet's surging, perhaps soused with a hint of reason
20    Scottish workman is surprising suitor with energy

21    Godsend in veggie-burgers - concealed crispy salad plant
22    Mould I've discovered in mosaic
23    One who has been granted the right to stay in America in a secluded meadow
24    Errors excepted, hesitation after a false statement is even more devious
25    Palest and most bashful
26    Bear witness to examination following mild stroke
27    Sword, lacquered tinware and copper cup
28    Method of decoying ducks in the US, fishing with moving bait, without line
29    Prevailing tendency of French folk holding promissory note
30    Type of exotic bird, no-go pet running amok
31    Viscous and shining harshly when iridium is absorbed
32    Transparent venomous lizards on the Seychelles
33    Knight intervening between goddess and goblin in sport
34    Peculiar-looking dints on a shroud
35    Cast skin of fruit with a sound of disgust
36    Messily watery puddle to shun
37    Thread-like lines contrived in saltire
38    Sisters of the Gorgons oddly appearing in Germanic adage
39    Care going into British Government direction for dress fabric
40    Refuse Frenchman with a Scots fit of perversity
To enter this competition send your entry, as an image or in list format, indicating the entries in the 2nd and 5th circles, as well as the final touch, to me at derekharrison@yahoo.com before the 8th December 2011. The first correct entry picked from the hat will receive a copy of the Chambers Dictionary, which has been donated by Chambers.