Most famous adventurers are remembered for the achievement of their one impressive goal but they also experience many highs, lows and other great goals on their way to success – and also afterwards.
Neil Armstrong.
For example, did you know that Neil Armstrong, who is celebrated for being the first person to walk on the Moon, suffered the loss of his daughter when she was aged just two. This happened in 1962 and seven years later he took One Giant Leap for Mankind.
Laura Dekker. Pic credit: Wim Zonneveld
Laura Dekker was the youngest person to sail around the earth in 2012. Born to parents who were sailors, Laura’s dad first set her the challenge of sailing from her home country of New Zealand to England when she was 24. A year later she set off for her solo circumnavigation and completed it in 2012.
Amelia Earhart, of Kansas, was the first female pilot to cross the Atlantic solo in 1932. She went missing age 42 while flying over the Pacific Ocean and is presumed to have died on that trip.
Sir Edmund and Lady Louise Hillary with their son Peter, 1955.
Everyone knows that Sir Edmund Hillary was the first climber to reach the summit of Mt Everest with Tenzing Norgay but did you also know that he went on to climb another 10 peaks in the Himalayas and he was fortunate to miss a doomed air flight. He was due to board the New York TWA Flight 266 flight, which ended in disaster in 1960, but he was late and did not get on the plane. He lived to the age of 88 and was named “New Zealand’s most trusted individual”.
Rosie Swale Pope in the Cardiff Marathon in 2002. Pic credit: Thruxton
Rosie Swale-Pope is famous for running around the world. She enjoyed many running adventures although a low point was in 2000, when she ran through Albania and was held at gunpoint. During her round-the-world run, which took five years, she suffered frostbite and several broken bones.
While American Erik Weihenmayer is best known for being the first blind person to climb Mount Everest in May 2001, in 2002 he joined the list of 150 mountaineers who had completed the Seven Summits. He was the only climber who was blind. Erik went blind at the age of 13, suffering from a rare eye disease called juvenile retinoschisis.
You can find out about other great adventurers including Felix Baumgartner, Lynne Cox, Ranulph Fiennes, Erden Eruc, John Goddard, Bear Grylls, Yuichiro Miura, Matt Rutherford and Ed Stafford in an interesting graphic created by famous boot maker Blundstone called Around the World in Many Ways: The Lives of Famous Adventurers. The interactive timeline features the achievements of some of the world’s greatest adventurers.
Perhaps you’ll be inspired to go out and achieve your own adventures.
