The first remarkable person, one you know, is Queen Elizabeth II. Next year will mean 70 years as the reigning monarch, at the age of 95. She is Queen to the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and Barbados. #2 in length is Hassanai Bolkiah of Brunei...53 years They are prepared:
I'm in the midst of planning three around the world trips. Safety and security dominate my list of absolute needs. I will avoid the summer heat of Dubai by walking through their World Expo in December. I'm a bit concerned about the Buenos Aires World Expo because South American is just not a safe place these days. I live in a cocoon.
Then there is Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Where do I start?
- In 1984 the Guinness Book of World Records named him as the world's greatest living explorer.
- To begin:
- His father died four months before Ranulph was born in the UK during World War II. He inherited dad's baronetcy at birth.
- Grew up in South Africa but returned home to graduate from Eton College.
- Had an outstanding, but difficult, military life.
- Married his childhood sweetheart Ginny in 1970. They raised cattle and sheep. She passed away in 2004.
- At the age of 62 in 2005 he married a 38-year old horse-trainer, and he got his first child the following year, a daughter.
- Between 1979 and 1982 he and two others went around the world using surface transportation only, but this was around the polar axis, crossing both the North and South Poles. No one before or since has done this.
- Was the first to make a complete Northwest passage using a Boston Whaler in 1981.
- In
- 1992 found the lost city of Iram in Oman, also called Atlantis of the Sands.
- 1993 he and Mike Stroud became the first to cross the Antarctic unsupported. Took 93 days.
- He was knighted that year.
- 2000 attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole, but failed.
- suffered severe frostbite
- cut off his fingers himself with an electric saw
- After a heart attack and undergoing a double heart bypass, four months later joined Mike Stroud (on the right) to in 2003 complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
- All for the British Heart Foundation.
- Was told by his doctor not to exceed 130 beats/minute, but forgot to pack his heart monitor (you think maybe he could have bought another one?) and lived.
- Beginning in 2005 failed to become the oldest Brit to climb Mount Everest...because of a continuing heart problem.
- In 2008 tried again, and got within 1300 feet of the summit, but had to turn back because of the weather.
- However, in 2009 he succeeded.
- He has acrophobia, a fear of heights.
- Wrote 24 books.
Chow Yun Fat lives a simple life. More than a quarter century ago, the Los Angeles Times already named him as the coolest actor in the world. Then he went on to act in Anna and the King, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Pirates of the Caribbean, and will soon star in his 100th film.
He uses public transit and lives humbly, seen eating at Hong Kong food stalls. Uses the same 17-year old Nokia flip phone. Is in some trouble with the Chinese government for supporting the Umbrella Movement and more recent Hong Kong protests. He donated the proceedings of his photography book published by Louis Vuitton to the Sichuan earthquake victims. Plans to give away the bulk of what will probably be a billion dollars when he dies.
The next two you probably never heard of before: Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff and Frank "Rocky" Fiegel. Let me start with Laurent, who is an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs.
In February of 2020 he was part of the Super Bowl victory. Went home to Canada, but had to spend 14 days in quarantine because of his contacts. He thought...didn't have three kids, saw his medical school friends having a tough time...so he inquired if he could help. Turns out that he is a doctor, but is not yet licensed to practice. Joined the care ranks in Quebec, changed masks 20 times/day while somewhat fearing for his life. He said the Chiefs were amazingly supportive and encouraged him to go with his feelings. Not much of a salary, a grueling life and Kansas City lost the Super Bowl without him. He'll be back to play this coming season because he says he has 40 more years after that to be a doctor, specifically, an emergency room physician.
Ever see this photo before?
His real name was Frank "Rocky" Fiegel. He was born in 1868 in Poland and, as a child, immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled down in a small town in Illinois. As a young man, Rocky went to sea. After a 20 year career as a sailor in the Merchant Marines, Fiegel retired. He was later hired by Wiebusch's Tavern in the city of Chester, Illinois as a ‘Bouncer’ to maintain order in the rowdy bar.
The creator of Popeye, Elzie Crisler Segar, grew up in Chester and, as a young man, met Rocky at the tavern and would sit for hours listening to the old sailor’s amazing ‘sea’ stories.’ Years later, Segar became a cartoonist and developed a comic strip called ‘Thimble Theater.’ He honoured Fiegel him by asking if he could model his new comic strip character, ‘Popeye the Sailor Man,’ after him. Naturally Fiegel was flattered and agreed.
Segar claimed that ‘Olive Oyl,’ along with other characters, was also loosely based on an actual person. She was Dora Paskel, owner of a small grocery store in Chester. She apparently actually looked much like the Olive Oyl character in his comics. He claimed she even dressed much the same way.
Through the years, Segar kept in touch with Rocky and always helped him with money; giving him a small percentage of what he earned from his ‘Popeye’ illustrations.
Something did not look right to me. I've more and more seen these made up viral videos. Had to check out this Rocky guy. Snopes only partially agreed to the tale, saying that the photo was a fake (the one used is of an anonymous British sailor aboard the HMS Rodney in 1940), Rocky was not a sailor and did not know about he being used as the model until the year Segar passed away. Here is a real photo of Frank Rocky Fiegel. So I changed my title from FIVE to FOUR REMARKABLE PEOPLE.
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