Farson had something to prove: His aristocratic family lost its fortune and he had to make his own. He wanted everything in life, and he pretty nearly got it.Farson was in France during the first war, in Russia during the revolution. He lived on a houseboat in British Columbia, fished the Caucasus, sold stories to keep alive. He was on a first name basis with most of the men who made headlines under Wilson, Hoover and Roosevelt.