Henry Morton Stanley’s early life was as dramatic as any of the African exploits that made him famous.

Originally named John Rowlands, he was born illegitimate in a time when that status carried considerable social stigma. His childhood years were spent in a St Asaph work house before running away to sea at the age of 16.

His travels took him to the U.S.A where he took the name of his adoptive father in New Orleans. He fought for both sides in the American Civil War before becoming a journalist.

As one of the first ‘star’ reporters he was commissioned by the New York Herald to find the whereabouts of Livingstone, the great Scottish missionary and explorer who had already crossed the Kalahari Desert and discovered Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River.

Livingstone had set out to find the source of the Nile but had not been heard from for several years. In 1869 Stanley began a no-expense-spared expedition into the heart of ‘Darkest Africa’. It would take him more than two years to find its man.

He was eventually tracked down in a remote part of what is now Tanzania. While Stanley’s greeting has become the stuff of legend, Dr Livingstone insisted he had not become lost and was by all accounts a little irritated at being “found” by the dashing newspaperman.

It was a nevertheless a great global scoop which demonstrated how journalists could make news by putting themselves at the centre of the story. The “media event” had been born.

An unabashed colonialist, Stanley proceeded to open up new areas around the Congo river which became Belgian possessions and eventually formed the basis of the modern Republic of Congo.

In later life he wrote prolifically about his adventures and, after resuming British citizenship, served as Member of Parliament for Lambeth North.