After a summer recess barstool book club is back with a boooOOOM!! Next book is Blood River, by Tim Butcher. The story of a journalist who tried to recreate the legendary Victorian explorer HM Stanley’s epic journey across the Congo. Lots of great stuff about the history of that part of Africa - from the early explorers, to some pretty punchy Belgian colonialism, followed by a post-colonial period led by warlords and despots. It’s now a pretty lawless and dangerous place - this guy tries to travel across it on his own with $2000 stuffed into the soles of his boots. Nutter. A sculptor mate of ours, Nick Elphick, recently unveiled his statue of HM Stanley to quite a bit of controversy. You can read why here if you’re interested. telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/congo/7908247/Row-over-statue-of-cruel-explorer-Henry-Morton-Stanley.html Then on Friday 27th September at 7pm we have a very special event. Sarah Longair – resident historian at the British Museum and expert on African colonialism – is giving us a private tour of the African exhibits. Including (hopefully) a painting from the Livingstone expedition kept in the vaults (HM Stanley was the guy that tracked him down and famously greeted him with ‘Dr Livingstone I presume’). Fancy dress encouraged, blacking up is probably a bit far. Piss up afterwards as always. Let me know asap if you can make it xxxx
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 22:46:47 +0000
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