Sir Richard Francis Burton

Spy, explorer, soldierso many words to describe Sir Richard Burton, but his stories were perhaps the most amazing. In 1853, Burton convinced the Royal Geographic Society to give him a leave of absence from the army to travel to Mecca and disguise himself as a Muslimeven getting circumcised to keep up the illusionto make it there. While exploring in Africa, he was impaled by a javelin in a foray with a group of Somali warriors, yet escaped alive. He spoke over 30 different languages and dialects and was a diplomat later in life. It seems likely Sir Richard took plenty of tales to the grave.