I ran across this from a book I started reading. It says a lot about why Robert Scott would take on such an expedition: "The Scott I knew was physically as hard as nails and flung himself into work or play with a vehemence I cannot remember ever to have seen equaled." As an example, when Scott was 8, he commanded his troupe of siblings to attack a small dock (later known as the enemy battleship) in the home's pond: "he was impelled, as all boys are, to blow something up, and he could think of nothing more splendid for this purpose than the battleship." Hey Russ, doesn't that sound like someone I grew up with?
(Reference: "The Voyages of Captain Scott: Retold from the Voyage of the Discovery and Scott's Last Expedition", by Charles Turley)
Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole @ 100
