Livingstone, I presume Concepts

Africa: A Biography of the Continent

by John Reader · 5 Nov 1998 · 1,072pp · 297,437 words

at Ujiji, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in November 1871, and secured himself an entry in every dictionary of quotations with the greeting: ‘Doctor Livingstone, I presume.’ Their meeting reinforced popular interest in Africa, while Stanley's report that Livingstone, already unwell, intended to continue his explorations of the Great Lakes prompted

Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart

by Tim Butcher · 2 Jul 2007 · 341pp · 111,525 words

, in November 1871. The soundbite he came up with was as glib and memorable as any a modern spin doctor could conjure. Stanley's `Dr Livingstone, I presume,' greeting remains so dominant that it has overshadowed his much greater and more significant achievement. It came on his next epic trip to Africa between

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within the RGS. After finding Livingstone in November 1871 at the small settlement of Ujiji on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, where the 'Doctor Livingstone, I presume?' greeting scene was played out, the two men spent four months together. But Stanley could not persuade Livingstone to return to Zanzibar. So he returned

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, but who somehow never quite staked his own place in the public's imagination. He never came up with a soundbite as memorable as `Dr Livingstone, I presume?' Cameron actually beat Stanley to this spot by two years. He, too, had heard tales from the Arab slavers about an immense river somewhere out

The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism

by Joyce Appleby · 22 Dec 2009 · 540pp · 168,921 words

months, but he had succeeded by the end of the year, when he did in fact greet the missing missionary with the famous salutation “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” Stanley and Livingstone became household names during the next few years. They stimulated the imagination, the curiosity, and the ambition of Europeans who had come

Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British

by Jeremy Paxman · 6 Oct 2011 · 427pp · 124,692 words

discover Livingstone’s fate was the result. Stanley’s celebrated greeting, when he eventually found Livingstone at Ujiji, in what is now western Tanzania – ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ – guaranteed the immortality of both men. Afterwards, they travelled together for a while, and then Stanley left Livingstone to continue his search for the source

Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure

by Julian Smith · 7 Dec 2010 · 311pp · 89,785 words

embracing him but then decided to walk over deliberately. He took off his hat and uttered one of the most famous lines in journalism: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Except he probably didn’t. As Tim Jeal, Stanley’s biographer, writes, the explorer probably thought up his immortal phrase months later. Livingstone didn’t

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for Africa, 1876–1912. New York: Random House, 1991. “People of Africa’s Past: Ewart Grogan.” Travel Africa, no. 11 (Spring 2000). Pettitt, Clare. Dr. Livingstone, I presume?: Missionaries, Journalists, Explorers, and Empire. London: Profile, 2007. Roberts, Chalmers. “A Wonderful Feat of Adventure.” World’s Work, January 1901. Rocco, Fiametta. The Miraculous Fever

Heaven's Command (Pax Britannica)

by Jan Morris · 22 Dec 2010 · 699pp · 192,704 words

hat, and uttered one of the epic texts of the Victorian age, as sacred to the faithful as it was comic to the irreverent: ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ ‘“Yes”, he said with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly.’ 5 Stanley was a Welshman. Born John Rowlands at Denbigh in 1841, he had

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wishing to ‘detract from the dignity of a white man appearing in such extraordinary circumstances’, and so gave his folk-phrase to the language—‘Dr Livingstone, I presume’. Livingstone, it seemed, did not in the least wish to be rescued. Now that fresh supplies were at hand, he wanted only to complete his

Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World

by Niall Ferguson · 1 Jan 2002 · 469pp · 146,487 words

; so I did what cowardice and false pride suggested was the best thing – walked deliberately up to him, took off my hat, and said: ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume.’ It took an American to take British understatement to its historic zenith. When Stanley’s story broke, it dominated the front pages of the English

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

by Siddharth Kara · 30 Jan 2023 · 302pp · 96,609 words

his death. Stanley eventually found Livingstone sick and weary at Ujiji in November 1871. According to his apocryphal account, he uttered the famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Stanley spent four months with Livingstone and came to see him as the father he never had. Stanley felt inspired to finish Livingstone’s work

Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, From the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First

by Frank Trentmann · 1 Dec 2015 · 1,213pp · 376,284 words

of the ‘new imperialism’ in the 1880s–’90s, imperial symbols and slogans gained ground in advertising. The craze for African explorer H. M. Stanley (‘Dr Livingstone, I presume’) was an advertiser’s dream. Stanley appeared in ads for soap and Bovril, and sipped tea with the Emin Pasha in his tent at Kavalli

To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration

by Edward J. Larson · 13 Mar 2018 · 422pp · 119,123 words

basin by 1870. Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh-born journalist sent by the New York Herald to find him, reached the explorer in 1871. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Stanley reported asking in an affected British understatement. “Yes, that is my name” came the reply that echoed around the globe.36 Hooked on the