Guy Lochhead, 03/08/10
An American soldier, explorer and writer, – and son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt – Roosevelt was courageous to the point of recklessness. He came near death many times on his expeditions for prioritising others’ treatment over his own. A talented linguist, he was relied upon as a translator for the British Army in Mesopotamia in the First World War, and awarded a Military Cross in 1918. He was permanently weakened after voluntarily delaying treatment for his own malaria in order to save his father on a South American expedition, and turned to drinking and drugs to cope with his subsequent depression. He shot himself in Alaska in 1943. A bizarre and tragic life that I don’t really know how to respond to, aside fromknowing I don’t want to include him. Rather, I’ll be sure to address the issues that he attempted to cope with – fame, responsibility, inheritance, courage, substance abuse…