Inspirational Heroes

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Saw Sir Ranulph Fiennes tonight (courtesy of Mamora Man). V. good speaker but came away mainly thinking wow - he's achieved so much and through very adverse mental and physical conditions. I'm not being starstruck since I've read his autobiography and know he can be a bit of shit too but maybe that's the downside to being driven.

Who has affected/inspired you?

[Just need to confess at this point that Billy Bremner was my childhood hero cos he had ginger hair. Don't worry - I don't emulate him that much.]

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

I had Che Guevara on my wall as a teenager and I wanted to join the PLO. Maybe I'd have turned out so much sweeter if I'd have just liked Abba and the Bay City Rollers, like my friends did!

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

My mother in law in Japan is easily the warmest, funniest,kindest most inspirational person I've ever met.

[david_carnell]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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> Saw Sir Ranulph Fiennes tonight (courtesy of

> Mamora Man). V. good speaker but came away mainly

> thinking wow - he's achieved so much and through

> very adverse mental and physical conditions. I'm

> not being starstruck since I've read his

> autobiography and know he can be a bit of shit too

> but maybe that's the downside to being driven.

Sweet, I was at the RGS for that talk too. He came across quite well. Very droll sense of humour and quite non-pc at times. I really wanted my book signed but the queue was huge! I've read his book and know Fiennes can be a bit of a shit at times but he has achieved more than ten ordinary men in his lifetime and is still planning more expeditions. Glad you enjoyed it too Peckhamgatecrasher. Interested in a dangerous expedition to North Dulwich?!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Digging out me thermals.

[Keef]

John Skinner, my old music teacher. He worked so so hard, and drove us all on to get the best out of us. To this day, some of the best quality music I've ever been involved in, and that includes university and several bands and orchestras as an adult.

[atila the gooner]

My mum and dad who came to this country as immigrants with nothing in 1955 and worked lomg and hard to provide for 3 kids, buy their own property and taught me a good set of moral and ethical values, for which I can never repay them. They are real heroes to me, not like the overpaid talentless twats on various "reality" & "talent" shows. Thats my rant finished!!

[Elfy]

My Gran died at the beginning of the year. She was 90. It was standing room only at her funeral. Over 100 people there. Although she didn't do anything that would make the history books..she was an inspirational person. She was so positive about life and made the most of every opportunity she was given. It was the happiest funeral I've ever been to. (I suppose it helped that she'd lived her life fully and it hadn't been cut short).

[Brendan]

Hunter S. Thompson for his ability to amuse, inflame and enlighten all at the same time. I simply admire him for his writing.

I don?t have any ?heroes? as such. Humanity is too flawed to deserve my idolatry.

[SeanMacGabhann]

As Mark Thomas has said in the past, "a hero is not a soldier who runs across foreign sands shooting strangers dead, or single-handedly sails around the world. A hero, is the person who gets up off the floor at 3am and says 'ok, I'LL ask next door for some rizzlas'"

But I have been inspired at many times in life by different people. I am jealous of people who can name members of their family tho'.. I sort of had to fight/leave mine to do anything. Not that they aren't great, just there wasn't a lot of agreement on anything when I was growing up

People who inspired me TEND to share a lack of formal education but with endless enthusiasm for learning - be it from books, life, experience. They also tend to be experimental and creative thinkers (much as I love football you can see why, skills aside I wouldn't pick one as an inspiration).... so George Orwell, Bowie, Bill Hicks and many others all inspired at various points.

I heard on the radio this morning a debate about wether black kids need more/better black role models... I think any intelligent kid, of any race/class/money chooses his/her role models more carefully than people imagine. They don't choose John Terry/Cheryl Tweedy as a role model because these people are omni-present.. they choose them because those values (vapidness, fame for it's own sake, arrogance) are already instilled/innate...

Somewhere else, at the same time, a similar kid has picked up a book by, say, Naomi Klein....

[citizenED]

How about Cadbury's Chocolate Heroes?

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Yes they inspire me - I might even be inspired enough to run to the shops to have some with my tea.

[lozzyloz]

Gosh so many but most recently Alan Dale. May just have to paddle my canoe to Zipolite!

[Keef]

ChavWivaLawDegree Wrote:

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> I had Che Guevara on my wall as a teenager and I wanted to join the PLO. Maybe I'd have turned out so much sweeter if I'd have just liked Abba and the Bay City Rollers, like my friends did!

It really annoys me seeing his face plastered everywhere, being sported by people who wouldn't have the first clue who he was! Problem with revolutionaries is that they're all a bit mental really aren't they. I mean, he did greaat things for Cuba and all that, but I'm not sure he was a very nice guy. Guess that's why your average man/woman on the street doesn't create revolutions.

[Brendan]

That is the problem with famous figures. They have sought fame or power through what they do, which in its self is a flaw to their credibility. There are those who have just done something we consider impressive but these things are very rarely selfless.

[*Bob*]

It's Windsor Davies for me - every time.

[dave]

There's a problem in that people used to become famous because of something they had done - Ranulf Fiennes is a good example of that tradition being carried on, where the modern British (and maybe American) trend is towards fame for fame's sake. Does fame = money = power? I tend to think not in most cases. And certainly it doesn't appear to lead to happiness.

Anyway, back to Heroes. I am quite looking forward to the series climax (what I believe is known by our transatlantic cousins as a "season climax") on BBC2 tonight.

[Jah Lush]

I had three heroes when I was growing up and they are still heroes to me now. First and foremost Muhammed Ali, a great man, a great fighter and someone who stood up for what he believed in.

Jimmy Greaves, the greatest goalscorer this country has ever seen. 44 goals in 57 caps for England. Top goalscorer for every club he ever played for every season and scorer of over 100 league goals before he was 21. I wanted to be a footballer when I was a youngster and he was my biggest inspiration. Unfortunately, he quit playing when he was only 31 and I was just 13 at the time. Also, for overcoming his alcoholism and staying sober after hitting rock bottom and rebuilding his life.

Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, the riff meister, a great songwriter, guitarist and someone who stuck two fingers up to authority and still quite clearly doesn't give a f**k.

[Ultraconsultancy]

Jah - I met Muhammed Ali some years ago; when Norman Mailer said the shock of his beauty made men bow their heads, he was right. I sat in floods of tears when the BBC made him sports personality of the century - "watch out, I'll be back!"

Ultraconsultancy

[Jah Lush]

UC - to me Muhammed Ali is a God. When I was a kid and he was starting out my dad used to let me stay up and watch him fight. When Ali fought the whole world watched. He was unique and took boxing to another level and turned it into an art. He was a real hero and inspiration to all the afro/caribbean kids that I went to school with. I saw him about 15 years ago in Holborn doing a book signing. Thousands of people came to greet him and he literally stopped the traffic. And, yes he makes me cry too.

[Keef]

I had these saved from when I was doing a quotes round for a quiz, and was going to pick one to post here, but with Ali, you can't pick a winner...

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round.

I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark.

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.

I'm the best. I just haven't played yet. (about golf)

I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin' hell, but as long as they ain't free, I ain't free.

I am America. I am the part you won't recognise. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.

I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a 'nigger'.

Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?

Nobody has to tell me that this is a serious business. I'm not fighting one man. I'm fighting a lot of men, showing a lot of 'em, here is one man they couldn't defeat, couldn't conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30m black people.

A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

What's really hurting me - the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. Islam is not a killer religion, Islam means peace. I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem. (After 9/11)

Thought that was a good one

[lozzyloz]

Brilliant post. Ali! Boom-by-yah!

[Jah Lush]

Thanks for doing that Keef. As you probably know there are plenty more where they came from. I've never loved a man but I love Muhammed Ali.

[spadetownboy]

muhammed,muhammed ali,he floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee, i braved the crowds a few years ago when he was in brixton,couldnt get too close because of the numbers there but i caught a glimpse and was swept away by the sheer brilliance of the whole occasion. as for inspirations in my life i cant really pick one out but i met bill clinton at a book signing in belfast a few years ago and if i ever saw a bloke who had the ability to inspire it was him, the bloke visibly radiated charisma