Yet another example of big things with humble beginnings: Thomas Cook, the Baptist minister who would one day found the eponymous travel agency, began his career planning and leading excursions for temperance societies and Sunday school children. Though Cook maintained that social reform was the impetus for these journeys, he clearly recognized the commercial potential inherent in his endeavor, and expanded his offerings to include so-called “pleasure-trips” as well. Withstanding an 1846 tour of Scotland that would leave him bankrupt, the adventurous teetotaler persisted, and soon he was moving bodies internationally. Eventually Cook would bring his son, John Mason, into the business—a decision that led to much inter-generational strife and a somewhat peremptory retirement for Cook Sr. John M., who had considerably more business acumen than did his father, would go on to lead excursions to the Middle East, where he would be described as the “second-greatest man in Egypt” (no, we are not entirely sure what that means either). Unfortunately, the Egyptian runner-up would meet his end with a nasty case of dysentery contracted while arranging Emperor Wilhelm II’s visit to Palestine in 1898. Thomas Cook Tours is still in business today. Read Less