“Mike Hoar lived in accordance with his philosophy, according to which you get more out of life if you are constantly in danger, so it’s all the more surprising that he lived for more than 100 years,” said the son of the mercenary Christopher Hoan.
Hoar was born in India into a family of Irish in 1919. During the Second World War, he served in the Armed Forces of Great Britain, participated in the battles in Burma. After the war, he moved to South Africa.
He became famous in the 1960s as a mercenary during the Congolese wars, during which he received the nickname "Mad Mike". In 1981, he took part in a failed coup attempt in the Seychelles, after which he ended up in prison for several years.
Hoar advised the 1978 Wild Geese film about a group of mercenaries from a private military company in Africa, in which he himself appeared as a character.