Errol Flynn to Marelle. Flynn described his mother's family as ""seafaring folk"" and this appears to be where his lifelong interest in boats and the sea originated. Both of his parents were Australian-born of Irish, English, and Scottish descent. Despite Flynn's claims, the evidence indicates that he was not descended from any of the Bounty mutineers. Flynn received his early schooling in Hobart. He made one of his first appearances as a performer in 1918, aged nine, when he served as a page boy to Enid Lyons in a queen carnival. In her memoirs, Lyons recalled Flynn as "a dashing figure –
Errol Flynn on 14 August 1942. With the United States fully involved in the Second World War, he attempted to enlist in the armed services, but failed the physical exam due to recurrent malaria (contracted in New Guinea), a heart murmur, various venereal diseases, and latent pulmonary tuberculosis. Flynn was mocked by reporters and critics as a "draft dodger," but the studio refused to admit that their star, promoted for his physical beauty and athleticism, had been disqualified due to health problems. Flynn's first war film was "Desperate Journey" (1942) directed by Walsh, in which he played an Australian for the first