Heroes

No, not the TV show about ordinary people with extraordinary powers. I'm talking about personal heroes, those people who inspire you, who serve as an example of what you strive to be.
These are mine - who are yours?

Goran Ivanišević

John McEnroe t-shirt, $22.90 from Spreadshirt.
The Croatian reached the Wimbledon men's final three times - and lost, three times. Finally, unseeded in 2001, he snatched a wildcard entry and fought his way through to the final once again. While not technically the best all-round tennis player, he was blessed with a 6'4" frame, and a serve like a rocket. The final game was a tense affair, as the Croat battled his personal demons more than opponent Pat Rafter, losing several match points through double faults before securing the win - and his place in history.

You can watch the last 25 mins of the match here, but here's the beautiful moment:



Ronnie O'Sullivan

Here's Ronnie t-shirt, £13.99 from ToffeeMonkey.
Three times snooker world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan is easily the most naturally gifted player ever to grace the baize. While Ronnie's fluid and virtually flawless style makes him the envy of the professional circuit, his personal issues and attitude towards the game have earned him some critics. Here's the Essex boy making a 147 look like child's play.



Nikola Tesla
This Croatian-born inventor is credited as the "father of the 20th century" for good reason. Among other notable creations, he invented the alternating current (A/C) power system used across America today.

Nikola t-shirt, from $15.99 from Hirsute History.
Though Marconi is generally regarded as the "inventor of the radio", many electrical engineers were working on wireless signal transmission at the time. In the 1890s while Marconi and others were developing wireless telegraphy, transmitting morse code over a couple of miles, Tesla created and demonstrated a radio-controlled boat. In a single move, he had created both the field of robotics (or "Art of Telautomatics" as he called it) and the technology of remote control. With amazing foresight, he envisioned the military consequences of this technology (indeed, these boats are the direct predecessor of today's guided missiles).

Nikola Tesla Company t-shirt, $15.95 from DolphinShirt.
He also built enormous towers which shot bolts of electricity for miles, tried to build a giant death ray, and claimed to have created a device to communicate with aliens, earning him the rather unflattering "mad scientist" reputation that has seen him all-but forgotten in modern schoolbooks.

Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett
The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy and the Discworld series respectively are both very hilarious, and very, very English.

You're Not Going To Like It t-shirt by RikkiB

Ford Prefect: "You'd better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
Arthur Dent: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford Prefect: "You ask a glass of water."

While neither man will have lived to enjoy retirement (Douggie died of a heart attack at 49, and TP is currently battling Alzheimer's disease) their respective fantasy universes will live on for generations to come in the minds of their devoted fans.

Turtle Cosmology t-shirt, from $15.99 from Teach The Controversy.