John Hanning Speke to Lake Victoria by travelling south. They eventually, after tremendous hardships, such as being racked by fevers and held up by rulers for months on end, found Lake Albert and the Murchison Falls. Speke and Grant now returned to England where they arrived in June 1863 and were welcomed as genuine heroes. This did not last long in Speke’s case however; disputes with Burton, who was relentless in his criticisms and a very compelling public speaker and gifted writer, left Speke’s discoveries in less than an ideal light. Speke had also committed to write a book for John Blackwood which
Bob Rafelson "Black Widow" are the joys of a film well made--the cinematography of Conrad Hall, the production design of Gene Callahan, and a fabulous cast," which also featured Dennis Hopper, Nicol Williamson, and Diane Ladd. In 1990 Rafelson directed "Mountains of the Moon", a film about the 1857–58 journey of Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke in their expedition to central Africa — the project that culminated in Speke's discovery of the source of the Nile River. It starred Patrick Bergin as Burton and Iain Glen as Speke, and was hailed by critic Roger Ebert as "completely absorbing." Ebert continued,