#welshman

Production: Okay, so we'll get the best Engl-

November 10th 1871 saw the Journalist Henry M Stanley find the missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone with the classic “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

In 1867, Henry Stanley became special correspondent for the New York Herald and two years late would be sent to Africa in search of the legendary explorer David Livingstone.

Livingston had been following his obsessional search to find the sources of the Nile River and no one had heard from him for three years.

Stanley got to Zanzibar in 1871 and headed out on a 700 mile trek through tropical rainforest. Because the Herald had not sent the money promised for the expedition he borrowed in from the US Consul. He used this cash to hire over 100 porters for the expedition.

The trip did not go well. During the expedition through the tropical forest, his thoroughbred stallion died within a few days after a bite from a tsetse fly. Many of his porters deserted, and the rest were decimated by tropical diseases.

Seven months after arriving in Zanzibar Stanley found Dr Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania and greeted him with the famous quote: “Doctor Livingstone, I presume?” Or did he?

There is some doubt about whether the line was actually ever said.

Pages that relate to their meeting were torn out of Stanley’s diary by the man himself and neither he nor Livingstone mentioned them in their letters.

It surfaced over a year later in a summary of Stanley’s letters in The New York Times.

When Livingstone died a few years later Welshman Stanley continued to explore huge amounts of central Africa.

The rest of his career was just as eventful.

He was a key part in opening up the lower Congo to trade which meant the creation of the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium.

Despite his supposed famous line and explorations giving him his place in history there have been a number of criticism levelled against him.

He was accused of indiscriminate cruelty against African even saying himself: “Many people have called me hard, but they are always those whose presence a field of work could best dispense with, and whose nobility is too nice to be stained with toil.” It is also argued that he had a very conflicted view of women describing them as “toys” and “trifling human beings”.

The Iraqis asked the Scot for his last request and he asked for 1000 Scot’s guards to play the bagpipes.

The Irishman was asked for his last request and he asked for 1000 Irish dancers to perform River Dance.

They asked the Welshman for his last request. He asked for a male voice choir of 1000 men from the Welsh valleys.

My God, Taron, you fucking cutie! 😍❤️