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11. Jessica Scorpio
Owner of 'Getaround', the next big thing in America, and soon the world. Zipcar proved there was demand for renting cars by the hour. But it had to buy the cars it rented—a heavy financial obligation that ultimately drove it into the arms of Avis. Now Getaround is proving there's a smarter way to do it, by letting any car owner rent it out by the hour. Where ride-sharing startups have run afoul of the law, Scorpio got the San Francisco-based company's service cleared by California regulators. Now you can even rent a Tesla Model S for $20 an hour.
Getaround launched in Chicago in September, and just introduced a new iPhone app to make rentals easier. But Scorpio has global ambitions. When she spoke at the Women 2.0 conference in San Francisco, Scorpio said her goal is to keep a billion cars off the road, by letting people rent vehicles that already exist.From http://
12. Teófilo Stevenson
No American had lost a heavyweight fight since Percy Prince Jr 12 years earlier, and Duane Bobick was not considered likely to be the first. He was handsome, a confident and articulate public speaker, and was soon to be a world-beating boxer. A future of fame and glory awaited, as did publication of an already-completed autobiography, to which he needed only to add a chapter describing his glory in Munich.
1972 Olympics Third Round. Bobick v Stevenson
Three brutal rounds and a couple of knockdowns later, Bobick's mother was sobbing in the front row and her son's unbeaten record, by then stretched to 65 fights, was over. "I had a bad day," he said. "Sevenson was in a lot better condition. He was a better fighter. Last time I faced him all he had was a jab."
That's when the big-money offers started, and by the time he arrived in Montreal to defend the title four years later he had turned down at least three of or above a million dollars. In 1974 he made his position perfectly and quite poetically clear: "No, I will not leave my country for one million dollars or for much more than that," he said. "What is a million dollars against eight million Cubans who love me?"
From http://www.theguardian.com/
1972 Olympics Third Round. Bobick v Stevenson
Three brutal rounds and a couple of knockdowns later, Bobick's mother was sobbing in the front row and her son's unbeaten record, by then stretched to 65 fights, was over. "I had a bad day," he said. "Sevenson was in a lot better condition. He was a better fighter. Last time I faced him all he had was a jab."
That's when the big-money offers started, and by the time he arrived in Montreal to defend the title four years later he had turned down at least three of or above a million dollars. In 1974 he made his position perfectly and quite poetically clear: "No, I will not leave my country for one million dollars or for much more than that," he said. "What is a million dollars against eight million Cubans who love me?"
From http://www.theguardian.com/
13. Jim Carrey
After his father lost his job when Carrey was 14, money became so tight they ended up living in a VW van on a relative's lawn. This served only to spur Carrey on in his quest for fame.
At 16, he left school to focus on his comedy career. He spoke out on Oprah about how he used #visualisationtechniques to help him achieve his eventual success.
From http://
14. Jeanette Winterson
Top literary author, Jeanette Winterson was not exactly encouraged with her writing abilities. Growing up in a home bereft of love and literature, the adopted lesbian daughter of a God-fearing Pentecostal tyrant (who believed sex was evil and all books, apart from the Bible, were sinful), Jeanette could have allowed her dreams to dissipate.
Instead, she left home and moved into her clapped-out car, where she slept by night, devoting her days to the library. This led to her attaining a place at Oxford to read English Literature - and the rest is history.
From http://
15. Don Thompson
Thompson began his sporting career as a runner but hardly even had moderate success. It wasn't until he injured his achilles and found he could no longer straighten his legs Thompson had to reconsider his sport. He took up walking races and quickly found he had stronger stamina than speed, finding huge success in 50km walking races.
However, failure loomed as, in the Melbourne Olympics 1956, Thompson was hit badly by dehydration and had to be hospitalised without finishing his race. This haunted the athlete and so, with the 1960 Olympics in Rome approaching, he found a new way of acclimitising himself to the stifling heat - in his parents' tiny steamy bathroom. As it turned out, the dizziness he experienced from this was not due to exhaustion but carbon monoxide poisoning from the heater. Regardless, he went on to win the 1960 Olympics.
16. Charles Darwin
An average student, the scientist showed no interest in academia - perhaps not helped by the fact he was dyslexic.
After dropping out of medical school Darwin's father once said: "You care for nothing but shooting dogs and catching rats and and you will be nothing but a disgrace to yourself and all of your family."
A naturalist and geologist, Darwin went on to become one of the greatest scientists of all time.
From http://
17. Kerry Usher
Super-slimmer law student Kerry Usher has lost an incredible 14 stone in 18 MONTHS.
At school she pushed herself to the limit when it came to sport, competing in hockey, discus and javelin.
But after leaving, the 25-year-old from Allerton in Liverpool turned a blind eye as her weight soared to more than 25 stone.
But now she is back in balance after losing 14st in 18 months.
“And it’s fantastic,” she says.
“There were times when I couldn’t believe what I had done to myself.
“Now I have lost the weight, I have a great career ahead of me and, for first time in a long time, I can say I am happy - and it’s not a facade!”
From http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/super-slimming-law-student-sheds-incredible-4898123
18. Benoit Lecomte
The next time you're finishing up an exhausting round of laps at your local gym, think of Benoit Lecomte. One of the greatest long-distance swimmers to ever live, the Frenchman is credited with being the first person to successfully swim across the Atlantic Ocean without the benefit of a kick board. Doggy paddling for around 73 days, Lecomte covered approximately 3,716 miles of deep-sea to complete this mammoth task in 1998. Beginning in Hyannis, Massachusetts, the athlete swam in two hour sessions for up to eight hours a day until he reached his goal over two months later in Quiberon, Brittany, France. And if you're wondering how Lecomte avoided becoming great white food, he was tailed by a boat with an electromagnetic field that warded off sharks.
19. Akio Morita
You may not have heard of Morita but you've undoubtedly heard of his company, Sony. Sony's first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn't cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100 units. This first setback didn't stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.
20. Emily Blunt
The Devil Wears Prada star started her career in not the most usual of ways...
"I did have a bad stuttering problem as a child. I'd try to push the words out, but it was frustrating. My parents took me to speech coaches and relaxation coaches. It didn't work. Then one of my teachers at school had a brilliant idea and said, 'Why don't you speak in an accent in our school play?'
"I distanced myself from me through this character, and it was so freeing that my stuttering stopped when I was onstage. It was really a miracle."
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