Voting Station

Richard Halliburton

Please vote to return to collections.

Adventurer

The Resume

    (January 9, 1900-circa March 24, 1939)
    Born in Brownsville, Tennessee
    Adventurer, author and lecturer
    Adventures included crossing the Alps on an elephant, retracing Ulysses' travels in the Mediteranean, retracing Cortez's conquest of Mexico, being castaway on an island a la Robinson Crusoe, and circumnavigating the globe in an open cockpit biplane
    Wrote the books 'The Royal Road to Romance' (1925), 'The Glorious Adventure' (1927), 'New Worlds to Conquer' (1929), 'The Flying Carpet' (1932) and 'Seven League Boots' (1935)
    Lost at sea while attempting to sail a Chinese junk across the Pacific Ocean

Why he might be annoying:

    Describing a hiking trip in the Rockies, he wrote that his Indian guides were 'as irresponsible as our southern niggers.'
    He was arrested in Gibraltar as a suspected spy for photographing gun emplacements.
    During his around the world flight, he gave an Indonesian headhunter a ride and received 25 pounds of shrunken heads as a payment.
    He unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate Mecca disguised as an Arab.
    He endorsed Lucky Strike cigarettes although he did not smoke.
    His disappearance, like that of Amelia Earhart, inspired rumors that he had been spying for the US on Japanese possessions in the Pacific.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was described by one writer as 'Indiana Jones, but with more chutzpah.'
    He swam the length of the Panama Canal, paying the lowest toll in its history (36 cents).
    He hid on the grounds of the Taj Mahal to swim in its pool under the moonlight.
    He took the first aerial photos of Mount Everest.
    He was one of the most popular authors and lecturers of the late 1920s and the 1930s.
    He wrote, 'Let those who wish have their respectability--I wanted freedom, freedom to indulge in whatever caprice struck my fancy.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 90.91% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 193 Votes: 63.21% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 28 Votes: 60.71% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying