Eccentrics

Henry Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey, styled Lord Paget until 1880 and Earl of Uxbridge between 1880 and 1898, and nicknamed "Toppy", was a British peer who was notable during his short life for squandering his inheritance on a lavish social life and accumulating massive debts. Regarded as the "black sheep" of the family, he was dubbed "the dancing marquess" and for his Butterfly Dancing, taken from Loie Fuller, where a voluminous robe of transparent white silk would be waved like wings. Vicary Gibbs, writing in The Complete Peerage in 1910, commented that he "seems only to have existed for the purpose of giving a melancholy and unneeded illustration of the truth that a man with the finest prospects, may, by the wildest folly and extravagance, as Sir Thomas Browne says, 'foully miscarry in the advantage of humanity, play away an uniterable life, and have lived in vain.'"

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque was a French polymath of the early 19th century, born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He made significant contributions to the fields of botany, zoology, and the study of prehistoric earthworks in North America. Rafinesque's interests extended to ancient Mesoamerican linguistics, adding to his prior work in Europe. Considered an eccentric and unpredictable genius, Rafinesque was largely self-taught and excelled in multiple areas of knowledge, including zoology, botany, writing, and languages. However, despite his prolific output, he received little recognition in his lifetime. In fact, he faced rejection from leading scientific journals and was marginalized within the American scientific community. Notable among his theories was his proposition that ancestors of Native Americans migrated from Asia to North America via the Bering Sea, as well as his belief that black indigenous peoples inhabited the Americas at the time of European contact.

Stephen Gough, popularly known as the "Naked Rambler", is a British pro-nudity activist and former Royal Marine. In 2003 and 2004, he walked the length of Great Britain naked, but was arrested when he did it again in 2005 and 2006. Since then, he has spent most of the intervening years in prison, having been repeatedly rearrested for contempt of court for public nudity and imprisoned. He has been convicted of public order offences at least 40 times. Gough brought a lawsuit in the European Court for Human Rights, arguing that laws requiring him to wear clothing violated his rights to privacy and free expression. His claim was rejected in 2014.

Anna Russell was an English–Canadian singer and comedian. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano. Among her best-known works are her concert performances and famous recordings of The Ring of the Nibelungs (An Analysis) – a humorous 22-minute synopsis of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is an Equatoguinean politician who has served as the first vice president of Equatorial Guinea since 22 June 2016. He is a son of Teodoro Obiang, the authoritarian leader of Equatorial Guinea, by his first wife, Constancia Mangue. He has been appointed to numerous government positions by his father's regime, including Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and "Second Vice-President", in charge of defense and security, in May 2012. He was promoted to the position of First Vice-President in June 2016. Known for his lavish lifestyle, he has been the subject of a number of international criminal charges and sanctions for alleged embezzlement and corruption. His net worth is $600 Million including his yacht, private jets, and luxury cars.

Michael Rockefeller was an American adventurer and member of the prominent Rockefeller family. Rockefeller was known for his passion for art and anthropology, which led him on expeditions to various remote regions of the world. In 1961, at the age of 23, Rockefeller embarked on an expedition to the Asmat region of western New Guinea in search of primitive art. It was during this expedition that tragedy struck. On November 19, 1961, Rockefeller's boat capsized off the coast of New Guinea, leaving him stranded in shark-infested waters. Despite initial efforts to rescue him, Rockefeller disappeared, sparking a massive search-and-rescue operation. In the years following his disappearance, rumors circulated regarding Rockefeller's fate. One theory, supported by anthropologist Carl Hoffman in his book "Savage Harvest," suggests that Rockefeller was killed and eaten by members of the Asmat tribe, who were known for their practice of ritualistic cannibalism. However, definitive evidence regarding Rockefeller's fate remains elusive, and his disappearance remains one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.