English explorer John Hanning Speke was BOTD in 1827. Born in Buckland Brewer in Devon, little is known of his early life. At 17, he was commissioned into the British Army, initially serving in India and undertaking treks through the Himalayas. He led three explorations in East Africa between 1856 and 1861, and is thought to be the first European to see and partially map Lake Victoria. He had a complex relationship with fellow explorer Richard Francis Burton, with whom he travelled on many expeditions, engaging in a brutal public argument about the true source of the River Nile. In September 1864, the day before a scheduled public debate with Burton, Speke died of a gunshot wound, which may or may not have been suicide. (In 1877, explorer Henry Stanley confirmed that Speke had been correct about Lake Victoria being the source of the Nile). Historians have debated whether Speke may have been gay, despite evidence of his relationship with a young Ugandan woman, or whether he and Burton were romantically involved. In the 1990 film Mountains of the Moon, Iain Glen played Speke as a weak-willed closet case, besotted with Patrick Bergin’s handsome and robustly heterosexual Burton. Others argue that Speke was unfairly maligned by Burton after his death, and deserves more recognition for his work. A very phallic memorial was erected in Speke’s honour in London’s Hyde Park.