Stanley was a British newspaperman and adventurer who achieved fame for his exploration of Africa, thanks to his punchy writing style and perilous exploits. He became an overseas correspondent for the New York Herald and in 1869 he was instructed to track down the missing Scottish missionary/explorer David Livingstone.

Livingstone had vanished in Africa, prompting Stanley's 700-mile trek through tropical forests. Upon finding him, as the legend goes, he smoothly stated the now infamous "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" Stanley's colourful journey infused exhausting expeditions with a dash of showmanship and adventure, almost romanticising extreme survival.