He believes women are partly escaping into fantasy because they cannot find suitably heroic partners in real life.

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The years of World War II were a hard, heroic and gallant time in the life of our country.

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There was no time for them to conjure the most unlikely of all equalisers, but their heroic display finally brought the World Cup to life and warmed the hearts of the crowd on a freezing night at Ellis Park.

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Next, a choir of young girls began a song about heroic Socialism, about happy people, about interesting life.

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But, as Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, author of an extensive study of the subject, points out, even successful departing bosses often try to ease the pain of re-entry into normal life by demanding to keep the trappings of their heroic stature: limousines, offices, private jets.

ECONOMIST: Chief executives: Easing the pain of parting | The

He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility and generosity.

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The Lincoln of "Lincoln" is brilliant because it shows a political figure navigating the perilous ambiguities of life, making the decisions that history, 150 years later, has judged heroic and correct.

CNN: What Obama can learn from Lincoln

Patients may decide they would rather leave the half million dollars to their families than spend it on heroic medicine, which may entail a lot of physical pain and suffering, with highly compromised quality of life on the other end at best.

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