Ultimate Heroes, bobble hats and aqualungs

Literally I'd be bouncing on the sofa in excited anticipation. The living room  abandoned, as it usually was, by my siblings who were only too aware of what was about to happen. With bright red bobble hat jauntily atop my head I'd wait alone for the adventure to begin.

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau was my childhood obsession. From age 7 till about 13 I don't think there was a single photo of me taken that didn't include a turtleneck jumper, rolled up jeans, bobble hat and deck shoes. My mother recently and painfully reminded me that I also spent most of that time talking in "a put on" French accent.

Mother is snail mailing a picture of me complete with bobble hat until then you'll have to make do with the real thing. 

Perhaps it was the exotic French accent or the otherworldliness of the undersea, perhaps it was the weird sounding names and places; Calypso, French Polynesia, the Coral Sea but to a 7 year old boy from bog standard Cullybackey it was like looking through a porthole to another world. A technicolor half hour in a black and white life.

My model of Cousteau's ship the Calypso was perhaps my parents all time greatest christmas present. I say perhaps as a proper microscope was right up there and I also live in hope that mothers knitted jumpers will cease and I'll see a return to form.   

Cousteau is my ultimate Hero, long before Attenborough he was making scientific discovery popular and accessible. His contribution to science is immense his contribution to humanity immeasurable. So many of my interests and passions can be traced back to those happy half hours in the undersea world of my parents sofa. I never would have studied science if it weren't for Captain Cousteau, my wanderlust is attributed to him as is my curiosity will all things foreign and exotic. I joined Greenpeace as a direct result of watching his documentaries, went on the first ever whale walk, got arrested for animal rights activism and now that I think of it he's probably the reason why I've never lived more than a mile from the sea in the last 27 years.

TV doesn't get any more adventurous than this  

I never got to meet Jacques Cousteau, he died in 1997 but I have been a member of the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life since I was 10 and heartily recommend it to anyone. Jacques lead a life full of passion and scientific curiosity and left a legacy of discovery and hope this is why Jaques Cousteau is my ultimate hero. Who is yours?



Lesser childhood heroes to follow.