Victorian Explorers

Everybody imagines the world's most interesting man to be a fictional, gray-haired lothario who drinks Mexican beer and boasts of his legendary exploits. But what if a man like this really lived? It turns out he did, and there were two of them--both Victorian explorers.

He was an early aviation pioneer. A millennial of his own time, Frank Stites moved from a rural Indiana farm to Los Angeles in 1903, the same year as the world's first flight. He moved here for all the same reasons we do now; to make a more exciting life for himself. Stites eventually died on the backlot of Universal Studios at 33 years-old doing what he loved- flying.

Modern society tends to portray men of history to be great saints or great sinners. In fact, biographers are often inclined, depending on their personal predilections, to portray their subjects as one of these two extremes, especially when someone is seen by a certain group as an example of religious ideals or values. Writers are often afraid that if any of the person's mistakes come to light, it will somehow disqualify them from being admired.