[Req] Successful "Late Starters" in History

FrCrilly

Hi All,

I’m putting together a list of people throughout history (Ancient International to Modern Irish) who became very successful in their chosen area after entering that professional at what was considered a particularly late age to start. Here’s what I have put together so far. If anyone can think of any others, feel free to share.

Thanks In Advance for all Responses.

1.Julius Caesar: At age 30, Caesar held a Roman state administrative position in Spain. Apparently on seeing a statue of Alexander the Great, he realised that by the age of 31, Alexander had conquered most of the known world. It was said that this caused Caesar to break down and weep.

2.Oliver Cromwell: For the first 40 years of his life, Cromwell lead an incredibly uneventful life as a humble gentleman farmer, showing little or no sign of greatness. Eventually he climbed his way through politics and with the breakout of English Civil War, he lead a highly successful military campaign, having no previous military experience.

3.Albert Reynolds: A former CIE clerk, Reynolds became a highly successful businessman (predominantly Dance Halls and Food Manufacturing). He first became interested in politics during the Arms Trial (attended it every day) and in 1977, at the age of 44, he was elected a TD for the first time. As a non college educated late starter, he successfully climbed his way to become Taoiseach.

4.Brendan O’Carroll: O’Carroll shot to fame when Gay Byrne called him onto the Late Late in the early 1990’s. Since then he has written, acted, produced and directed both films and stage plays/stand up comedy. As far as I can tell, for most of his twenties and early thirties, he lived a harsh working class existence on the dole with a wife and children.

brianthebard

Interesting topic, although I think Caeser was still successful by 30, just perhaps not as much as he wanted to be. I think James Connolly was 51-ish in 1916, which is quite old for a revolutionary, although he would've been well known throughout Ireland before that.

boneless

brianthebard wrote: »

Interesting topic, although I think Caeser was still successful by 30, just perhaps not as much as he wanted to be. I think James Connolly was 51-ish in 1916, which is quite old for a revolutionary, although he would've been well known throughout Ireland before that.

Connolly had been active since the 1890s and also had a spell in the USA organising for the IWW.

MacAvoydgeen

Francis Crick (Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery of DNA) did not begin to study biology until age 31. For the previous decade he had worked in the British Navy, after getting a bachelor's degree in physics at age 21.
Robert Millikan (Nobel Prize for the Millikan Oil Drop Experiment) got a bachelor's degree in ancient Greek at age 23, before he switched to physics.
Eric Kandel (Nobel Prize for biochemistry of neurons) got a bachelor's degree in History and English Literature in his early twenties, after which he somehow managed to get into a medical school.
John Tyndall (19th century physicist famous for findings about thermal radiation in gases) was entirely clueless about physics and chemistry when he began studying science at age 27.

brianthebard

boneless wrote: »

Connolly had been active since the 1890s and also had a spell in the USA organising for the IWW.

He didn't enter into the armed revolution business until 1916 though was my point.

boneless

brianthebard wrote: »

He didn't enter into the armed revolution business until 1916 though was my point.

Fair point but didn't the ICA get going in 1913 under his leadership? Strikes are struggles too....:P

Rosita

Arguably the prime example of a late achiever (if you accept that he qualifies at all considering he already had a long career behind him) is Winston Churchill who did not become British Prime Minister until he was 65 years old.

Or how about Ronald Reagan, still a professional actor at the age of 54, and became President of the USA at 70.

arnhem44

That could be said of alot of political leaders though.Quite a few had careers before they ever went into politics