Who Was Robert Ripley [Paperback]

Enter a world of shrunken heads, mystic holy men, shriveled aliens, and bizarre relics in the delightfully odd tale of Robert Ripley. Born in California, Ripley began his career as a sports cartoonist. He went on to chronicle global records and oddities in his weekly column,Believe It Or Not!After publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst took an interest in the column, it became a syndicated global success. Ripley spent his life traveling to more than 200 countries in search of strange objects and interesting facts. His penchant for the peculiar launched an entertainment empire, and his collection of artifacts can be seen worldwide at his famous Odditoriums.Believe It Or Not!Kirsten Anderson is a freelance writer and actress who lives in New York City with her charming Pomeranian, Sunflower.

Who Was Robert Ripley?

 
 
By December 1918, Robert Ripley had been drawing sports illustrations for almost ten years. He was used to drawing boxing matches, baseball games, and pro golfers. But now he was stuck. He was in a big hurry to leave the newspaper office. He had a date. But he couldn’t leave until he had the sports cartoon finished. 
 
Ripley loved to collect weird and interesting facts. He kept a folder of them on his desk for a rainy day, when he was out of cartoon ideas. Today felt like that day. He began to look through the folder . . .
 
A little while later, Ripley finished his drawing. It showed people accomplishing amazing things. A man who walked backward across a continent. Another who hopped one hundred yards in eleven seconds. A fellow who jumped rope 11,810 times in a row, and one who ran backward for one hundred yards in only fourteen seconds. There were some track and field facts, record-breaking times spent underwater, and three-legged racers. These were the fascinating things people did to which Ripley paid attention.
 
Ripley needed a title. lC+