{"id":4289,"date":"2015-06-29T15:40:05","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T15:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatlives\/?post_type=great-lives-lecture&#038;p=4289"},"modified":"2024-04-30T15:32:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T19:32:51","slug":"robert-ripley","status":"publish","type":"lecture","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/robert-ripley\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Ripley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"wp-block-umw-hero alignfull umw-custom-block umw-hero umw-hero--dark-text umw-hero--white umw-hero--with-no-media\"><div class=\"umw-hero__inner\"><div class=\"umw-hero__media\"><\/div><div class=\"umw-hero__title\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"umw-hero__title__wrapper\"><div class=\"umw-hero__eyebrow\">great lives lecture series<\/div><h1 class=\"umw-hero__title__header\">Robert Ripley<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-umw-hero-ctas alignfull\"><div class=\"umw-hero__links\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"umw-hero__links__wrapper\">\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<div class=\"wpv-view-output\" data-toolset-views-view-editor=\"6f3f608ca597b488da4ed1c0df7b3be3\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-toolset-views-view-editor wpv-gutenberg-view-wrapper-61885\">\n\n\n<div id=\"wpv-view-layout-61885-CATTR76fbb1814fdd2d1c9c351334d019796e\" class=\"js-wpv-view-layout js-wpv-layout-responsive js-wpv-view-layout-61885-CATTR76fbb1814fdd2d1c9c351334d019796e\" data-viewnumber=\"61885-CATTR76fbb1814fdd2d1c9c351334d019796e\" data-pagination=\"{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;61885&quot;,&quot;query&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;disabled&quot;,&quot;effect&quot;:&quot;fade&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:500,&quot;speed&quot;:5,&quot;pause_on_hover&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;stop_rollover&quot;:&quot;false&quot;,&quot;cache_pages&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;preload_images&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;preload_pages&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;preload_reach&quot;:1,&quot;spinner&quot;:&quot;builtin&quot;,&quot;spinner_image&quot;:&quot;\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/plugins\/toolset-blocks\/embedded\/res\/img\/ajax-loader.gif&quot;,&quot;callback_next&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;manage_history&quot;:&quot;enabled&quot;,&quot;has_controls_in_form&quot;:&quot;disabled&quot;,&quot;infinite_tolerance&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;max_pages&quot;:1,&quot;page&quot;:1,&quot;base_permalink&quot;:&quot;\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lecture\/4289?wpv_view_count=61885-CATTR76fbb1814fdd2d1c9c351334d019796e&amp;wpv_paged=WPV_PAGE_NUM&quot;,&quot;loop&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;data&quot;:[],&quot;id&quot;:0}}\" data-permalink=\"\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lecture\/4289?wpv_view_count=61885-CATTR76fbb1814fdd2d1c9c351334d019796e\">\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n          <h2 class=\"lectureDate\">Lecture Date: February 5, 2015<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/119143504\" width=\"533\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Robert Ripley 2\/5\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<div class=\"topicSummary\"><p>The story of Robert Ripley is not just an underdog story; it\u2019s the story of an underdog \u2014 a poor, shy, bucktoothed stutterer \u2014 who went on to celebrate underdogs, and weirdos, and misfits. Ripley\u2019s curiosity and obsessive devotion to exploring the oddities of the world made him one of the highest-paid newspaper men of his generation, one of the most popular American figures of the 1930s and 40s, and among the best-traveled men in history, a man whose global dispatches gave readers much-needed entertainment during the depths of the Depression. Sixty-five years after his death, the \u201cBelieve it or Not\u201d franchise he created is as strong as ever. His name continues to appear in print daily, and it adorns the many Ripley\u2019s Odditoriums and other venues around the world. In his day, Ripley tapped into something deep in the American consciousness \u2013 a taste for the titillating, the exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, and most weird. That legacy can be seen in such phenomena as reality TV, YouTube, America\u2019s Funniest Home Videos, Jackass, MythBusters, and other pop-culture phenomena. Ripley combined the spirit of Peter Pan with the globe trotting fearlessness of Marco Polo and the marketing savvy of P.T. Barnum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"lectureSpeaker\" style=\"padding-top: 1em;\">Speaker: Neal Thompson<\/h2>\n<div class=\"speakerInfo\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/neal-mugshot-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail alignleft\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" style=\"\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/neal-mugshot-150x150.jpg 150w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/neal-mugshot-50x50.jpg 50w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2015\/06\/neal-mugshot-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n<p>Neal Thompson is a veteran journalist and author who spent 15 years working as a newspaper reporter before he began writing books. He is the author of four works of biography and nonfiction: A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert \u2018Believe It or Not\u2019 Ripley (2013), which was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in nonfiction; Hurricane Season: A Coach, His Team, and their Triumph in the Time of Katrina (2007); Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR (2006); and Light This Candle: The Life & Times of Alan Shepard, America\u2019s First Spaceman; (2004). Thompson and his books have been featured on NPR, ESPN, the Daily Show, the BBC, the History Channel, Fox, and TNT, and his stories have appeared in Outside, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Men\u2019s Health. He currently works as Senior Books Editor at Amazon.com, where he conducts author interviews and manages a blog, Omnivoracious: The Amazon Book Review.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"season":[211],"class_list":{"0":"post-4289","1":"lecture","2":"type-lecture","3":"status-publish","5":"season-211","6":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Robert Ripley - Great Lives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/robert-ripley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert Ripley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/robert-ripley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Great Lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-30T19:32:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/robert-ripley\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/robert-ripley\\\/\",\"name\":\"Robert Ripley - 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