born in 1864, henri raymond de toulouse-lautrec came from a noble and distinguished family-- count raymond toulouse had helped capture jerusalem in the first crusade. henri's branch of the family came from the red-brick city of albi in the south of france. henri grew up in a world of chateaus and privilege in a family living on the fruits of its noble past. but a france governed by the middle class was losing its taste for nobility. like many aristocrats, his father alphonse retreated into rural pastimes-- riding and hunting. an eccentric, he looked wistfully back to the family's glorious past. alphonse had married his first cousin adele, a common practice in a class anxious to preserve the purity of its bloodlines. but the results of inbreeding for henri were uncommonly cruel. his legs were short and weak. he broke each of them in early adolescence and stopped growing when he was 14. he was just under five feet tall. his head, hands and torso continued to develop. but his stunted legs made walking painful for the rest of his life. denied the aristocratic pleasures of riding and hunting, h

born in 1864, henri raymond de toulouse-lautrec came from a noble and distinguished family-- count raymond toulouse had helped capture jerusalem in the first crusade. henri's branch of the family came from the red-brick city of albi in the south of france. henri grew up in a world of chateaus and privilege in a family living on the fruits of its noble past. but a france governed by the middle class was losing its taste for nobility. like many aristocrats, his father alphonse retreated into rural pastimes-- riding and hunting. an eccentric, he looked wistfully back to the family's glorious past. alphonse had married his first cousin adele, a common practice in a class anxious to preserve the purity of its bloodlines. but the results of inbreeding for henri were uncommonly cruel. his legs were short and weak. he broke each of them in early adolescence and stopped growing when he was 14. he was just under five feet tall. his head, hands and torso continued to develop. but his stunted legs made walking painful for the rest of his life. denied the aristocratic pleasures of riding and hunting, h

raymond james advisor can do for you. >>> for 90 most sea faring years jim henry couldn't read or write. >> i was so ashamed of myself that. >> growing up with the strict portuguese father, henry was put to work as a young child. his father didn't care about school so henry seldom went to class. >> i didn't learn a thing, didn't know nothing. >> his teachers promoted him still to the next grade. henry eventually dropped out of school, kept working, got married and used his street smarts to get by. his wife knew he couldn't read a word. friends and family had their suspicions but never asked. it wasn't until his wife became ill he openly admitted i was illiterate. >> i says i got to do something. i says i can't go on all of my life this way. >> reporter: with the help of family and friends henry began to teach himself. >> he went through the entire dictionary back to front reading. >> reporter: studies show as the human brain ages it becomes more difficult to learn a new skill especially at the age of 90, so henry hired a tutor to help him and two years later he succeeded, but henry decided to take it a step further. he ha