Did you have a childhood 'hero'?
Discussion
When I was a kid, for me, it was Niki Lauda. I was in awe of his skill, bravery, humour, and intellect. He seemed almost impossibly amazing to the 8-year-old me.
As an adult, the whole concept of a 'hero' seems less realistic, really. If I had one now, though, it would be Neil Armstrong.
As an adult, the whole concept of a 'hero' seems less realistic, really. If I had one now, though, it would be Neil Armstrong.
Not in the accepted sense.
My Mum and Dad divorced when I was 3, and visiting rights were agreed for every Saturday for Dad. Funny and irreverent, he used to pick me up at 09:00 every Saturday initially in his red Rover P6 2000TC. Leather seats, and a dashboard like Concorde he used to say! We'd go for a Chinese for lunch (or a restaurant called the Copper Kettle, which is where I first ate a risotto), then - maybe - to the amusement arcade at Mumbles Pier, all the time making me laugh like a loon as he was fairly well known in the Swansea amateur dramatic society (for as long as I can remember, he played lead roles in many productions at The Grand Theatre in Swansea most of which were comedy roles such as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum).
He introduced me to golf and curry at an early age, and had a good eye for cars. After a brief period with company cars, one of which I had my first passenger ride to "The Ton" (a Chevette - DLA 642T), he set up his own business and Saturdays then saw me in a Mercedes W123 230E and then a Jag XJ40 Sport in Burgundy with cream leather. After that, unexpectedly, he bought a Toyota Camry 3.0 V6 SE in which I saw an indicated 125mph on the A449 North near Monmouth. Two X308 Jags followed, together with a Mercedes R107 500SL.
Right up until he passed away in 2015, f
k me we would have a right old laugh having the same sense of humour.
But, yeah, as a kid my Dad was a hero figure to me. I miss him.
My Mum and Dad divorced when I was 3, and visiting rights were agreed for every Saturday for Dad. Funny and irreverent, he used to pick me up at 09:00 every Saturday initially in his red Rover P6 2000TC. Leather seats, and a dashboard like Concorde he used to say! We'd go for a Chinese for lunch (or a restaurant called the Copper Kettle, which is where I first ate a risotto), then - maybe - to the amusement arcade at Mumbles Pier, all the time making me laugh like a loon as he was fairly well known in the Swansea amateur dramatic society (for as long as I can remember, he played lead roles in many productions at The Grand Theatre in Swansea most of which were comedy roles such as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum).
He introduced me to golf and curry at an early age, and had a good eye for cars. After a brief period with company cars, one of which I had my first passenger ride to "The Ton" (a Chevette - DLA 642T), he set up his own business and Saturdays then saw me in a Mercedes W123 230E and then a Jag XJ40 Sport in Burgundy with cream leather. After that, unexpectedly, he bought a Toyota Camry 3.0 V6 SE in which I saw an indicated 125mph on the A449 North near Monmouth. Two X308 Jags followed, together with a Mercedes R107 500SL.
Right up until he passed away in 2015, f
k me we would have a right old laugh having the same sense of humour.But, yeah, as a kid my Dad was a hero figure to me. I miss him.
I’m a bit weird. By 14, my “hero” / role model was Richard Feynman. I’m still geeking happily in my 50s.
But, referencing the earlier mention of Dorian Yates. I did train at Temple Gym in Birmingham in the 90s. Dorian still owns it - really nice guy and very helpful if you were ever looking for guidance to hit your training goals.
But, referencing the earlier mention of Dorian Yates. I did train at Temple Gym in Birmingham in the 90s. Dorian still owns it - really nice guy and very helpful if you were ever looking for guidance to hit your training goals.
pablo said:
My dad was my hero. He could do anything. Fix cars, build a shed, fit a sink, take me to a football match, play snooker with me. I wish everyone could have had a dad like mine.
Good stuff. It slightly baffles me when I hear people say things like this as my relationship with my Dad was mediocre at best. Not a biggie for me though - best of luck to you. 
By the way, my Mum is great. She's in her mid-80s and I still see her twice a week and enjoy doing so. So I guess I'm not that baffled.
pablo said:
My dad was my hero. He could do anything. Fix cars, build a shed, fit a sink, take me to a football match, play snooker with me. I wish everyone could have had a dad like mine.
Well I never had a dad like yours so didn't really have any heroes growing up. People I admired, but no heroes. But now I'm 60, my sons are my heroes. 26 & 24, both brilliant young men, intelligent, funny, good looking, hard working and both with far better qualifications and careers than I ever had. They are everything I would have liked to have been, but wasn't.
I was sports mad as a youngster - and still am to some extent. As a fan of professional cycling I remember running home from primary school to catch the end of that day's Tour de France stage.
I had just turned nine years olf when Lance Armstrong won stage 18 in 1995 thew day after his team mate died in a crash and was in awe. This was pre-cancer diagnosis and his comeback - which as a young naive fellow I fully believed. I proudly wore my yellow wristband, and read 'It's noit about the bike' cover to cover multiple times. Hell, I even saved up to buy an entry level Trek bike.
I went to France several times to watch the race itself, but he was certainly a big draw. Spedning hours in the rain to watch the cyclists go past in a blur of a few seconds. This was back when there generally a maximum of one UK rider in the pack, and often none and before it became the popular sport it is in the UK today and being 'in to cycling' was seen as more of an outlyer than it is today.
I had just turned nine years olf when Lance Armstrong won stage 18 in 1995 thew day after his team mate died in a crash and was in awe. This was pre-cancer diagnosis and his comeback - which as a young naive fellow I fully believed. I proudly wore my yellow wristband, and read 'It's noit about the bike' cover to cover multiple times. Hell, I even saved up to buy an entry level Trek bike.
I went to France several times to watch the race itself, but he was certainly a big draw. Spedning hours in the rain to watch the cyclists go past in a blur of a few seconds. This was back when there generally a maximum of one UK rider in the pack, and often none and before it became the popular sport it is in the UK today and being 'in to cycling' was seen as more of an outlyer than it is today.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
pablo said:
My dad was my hero. He could do anything. Fix cars, build a shed, fit a sink, take me to a football match, play snooker with me. I wish everyone could have had a dad like mine.
Well I never had a dad like yours so didn't really have any heroes growing up. People I admired, but no heroes. But now I'm 60, my sons are my heroes. 26 & 24, both brilliant young men, intelligent, funny, good looking, hard working and both with far better qualifications and careers than I ever had. They are everything I would have liked to have been, but wasn't.
pablo said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
pablo said:
My dad was my hero. He could do anything. Fix cars, build a shed, fit a sink, take me to a football match, play snooker with me. I wish everyone could have had a dad like mine.
Well I never had a dad like yours so didn't really have any heroes growing up. People I admired, but no heroes. But now I'm 60, my sons are my heroes. 26 & 24, both brilliant young men, intelligent, funny, good looking, hard working and both with far better qualifications and careers than I ever had. They are everything I would have liked to have been, but wasn't.
No, I didn't then and I don't really now. There are people I respect for their success, but I also know that such success generally requires personality traits which tend towards the unpleasant, even narcissistic, and focus to the detriment of all other aspects of their lives. As such, (IMHO) many of these 'heroic' celebrity type figures are not nice people. They might be very successful at one or many things, but they are still just people, not Gods. Very driven people, yes, but just people with flaws and character defects like the rest of us. They say 'never meet your heroes' for a reason. There are very few which can live up to their own hype.
pablo said:
My dad was my hero. He could do anything. Fix cars, build a shed, fit a sink, take me to a football match, play snooker with me. I wish everyone could have had a dad like mine.
My dad was also my hero when I was a kid. He was a cop and won a bravery award for tackling a man with a knife who was about to murder a woman. As I've gotten older my opinion of him has changed, as I've come to recognise various negative traits but I still admire him.
I guess the classic idea of a "hero" doesn't often match with reality as people are complex and often have several dimensions to their character. Take Churchill for instance, lots of reasons to praise him but just as many controversial and unpalatable aspects to him.
Gary Glitter. Growing up in the north in early 1970's strike-torn England complete with power cuts and 3 channels of TV only, he was this incredible showman brightening up TOTP most weeks. Loved the bloke and his music. I was more shocked to find out he was wearing a syrup all that time than that he was a paedo.
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