u3a

Goudhurst and District

“Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

Event type: Meeting
Date: 18th June 2025

Fran Sandham tells us the story behind the legendary meeting in Africa in 1871 between the missing explorer Dr David Livingstone and the ambitious reporter Henry Morton Stanley. How their meeting proved to be the newspaper scoop of the century, bringing Stanley world fame and notoriety; the widespread controversy, hostility and personal ridicule Stanley faced on his return to Europe and America after finding Livingstone; why their meeting was such a sensational news story - and why Stanley's four words became the most famous greeting in history.