Still debating heroes - one off bravery, persistent, determined? Rags to riches? Stoics?

Who is a hero or heroine? Somebody who risked their life, lost their life, or saved the lives of others? Then you find more in WWI and WWII. But a lot of it is grim reading, unless you bias your list towards survivors.
    What about entertainers? I imagine I hear little voices objecting, surely a skater or writer is not a hero? If you have ever tried to write a best selling novel, or even a novel with a beginning, middle and end, a year later, ten years later, you will appreciate the number of hours you must dedicate, the hours of revision, the struggle to master grammar and punctuation, the effort of a day, a week, a month, in simply researching and compiling a list for a blog - before you even start creating metaphors, similes and memorable phrases.
   What about money? Who is successful? The person who made the most money? One must admire those who started with no money and no encouragement and later were successful. Rags to riches. Cinderella. We want to know what kept them going, who encouraged them, which saying or motto they kept repeating in times of trouble which kept them going. Was it will poet alone? Or what you know. Persistence. Determination. Skill. Optimism?
   I admire those who persisted despite discouragement. We, readers and writers, all love stories about authors who were rejected, but whose books were later a great success.

Your hero or heroine - lives, quotes, more

You are often asked to describe your hero or heroine. Who should you choose?

SPEECHES  & HEROES & HEROINES
    I am compiling a list of the world's heroes and heroines who I think you will find inspirational. I am selecting a succinct quotation and an interesting story which encapsulates their lives, a new person to learn about and talk about for each day of the year.
   I started this list to help myself write opening speeches, to help myself as a speaker at a speakers' training club. (I am a former presidents of Harrovian Toastmasters in London, England.}
   Then I thought I should share my research with other writers and readers so they could enjoy the stories, benefit from my research and share my enthusiasm. This list should be useful to you if you are ever a toastmasters, president, chairman, after dinner speaker, or motivational speaker at a meeting. I am looking for the sort of story you might hear at school, as a student, on the radio or TV.    
   But even when you are between jobs, looking for work, not yet working, or retired, you might enjoy the stories. The characters are people you would like to hear about if you were in the audience or listening or watching.
    This task is not as simple as you might think. It involves finding at least 365 inspirational people.
That's why I have still not finished.
    Why did I start compiling my list? Every time I go to a speakers' meeting at Toastmasters International anywhere in the world I might be asked to speak. Or I might find a speaker who has had to take over at the last minute from somebody who is unable to attend. So I look for one person. In the back of my book Quick Quotations For Successful Speakers I have a list of some of the seasonal and national days. For example, Christmas Day - see quotations on Christmas, Mother's Day - see quotations on mothers - and Valentine's Day - see quotations on love.
    A speaker can usually use the lives of the people who started a festival as inspiration for a speech in that week or that month. I started a list.