Crikey!

I remember watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom in the dorm common room when I was attending the University of Arizona.  Marlin Perkins, the show's narrator, was narrating while in the back ground Jim, his younger and stouter second, was being flung into the air by some animal.  When the show cut to commercial Perkins said: "The secret of life is to have Mutual of Omaha Insurance."  Someone in the room piped up and said: "the secret of life is to have Marlin's job and not Jim's." 

Steven Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was no Marlin Perkins.  He was the star and he got right up close to the most dangerous critters that God in his dark moments ever imagined.  The news just came over that one of them killed him.  From Fox:

CAIRNS, Australia — Steve Irwin died doing what he loved best, getting too close to one of the dangerous animals he dedicated his life to protecting with an irrepressible, effervescent personality that propelled him to global fame as television's "Crocodile Hunter."

The 44-year-old Irwin's heart was pierced by the serrated, poisonous spine of a stingray as he swam with the creature Monday while shooting a new TV show on the Great Barrier Reef, his manager and producer John Stainton said.

News of Irwin's death reverberated around the world, where he won popularity with millions as the man who regularly leaped on the back of huge crocodiles and grabbed deadly snakes by the tail.

I admire Irwin.  He follows in a long line of English speaking adventures, marching into the mouth of danger and telling the tale.  But I am still glad I have Marlin's job, and not Jim's.