Callan Pinckney
| Callan Pinckney | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 26, 1939 Savannah, Georgia |
| Died | March 1, 2012 (aged 72) Savannah, Georgia |
| Known for | Creator of Callanetics |
Callan Pinckney (born as Barbara Biffinger Pfeiffer Pinckney September 26, 1939 – March 1, 2012) was an American fitness professional. She achieved unprecedented success with her Callanetics exercises. Her 9 books all became international best-sellers and the video series that followed went on to sell over 6 million copies. Pinckney's first video release "Callanetics: 10 Years Younger In 10 Hours" outsold every other fitness video in the US. Within 3 years it had pushed Jane Fonda into second place on the all-time individual best-selling fitness video chart and it remains the all-time fitness bestseller in both the US and UK.
Pinckney was born on September 26, 1939. Born as Barbara Biffinger Pfeiffer Pinckney, she grew up in Savannah, Georgia in the deep south of the United States. Going back nine generations her family were instrumental in founding South Carolina. They were explorers and adventurers and even helped draft the Constitution of United States. She was born with spinal curvatures, one hip higher than the other and severely turned-in feet. She was forced to wear leg braces for seven years and in an effort to correct her alignment spent the next decade studying classical ballet. She rebelled against her upbringing, got suspended from every school she attended and spent her days dreaming of traveling and exploring the world.
By the time she reached 21, Pinckney had become increasingly bored and restless with her well-bred southern lifestyle. Her adventurous ancestry was bringing out the traveller in her and after two years of college she felt the time had come for a major change. Her father had always insisted that she finish college before she even considered traveling abroad. He was sure that she could not live without his support for more than a couple of months. This only made Callan more determined to strike out on her own. She wanted to see foreign lands and experience life and people. No college education could offer her that, so she planned her escape one morning in 1961. As the sun was rising she grabbed her passport and threw her tightly packed suitcase from the second- story window of her parent’s home. She climbed out after it and ran across the street to a waiting car. She jumped in and asked her friends to drive her to the bus depot. From there she headed for Wilmington in North Carolina. Pinckney knew there was a freighter leaving for Germany that day and without a second thought she stepped on board and started her adventure.
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