My goodness, 42 years of sun bathing at the same latitude as Tunisia. Should he have got skin cancer or did he benefit from all the naturally produced Vitamin D?
The article takes some poetic license, and makes it seem like he sunbathed daily. There's another article in the LA Times, linked in a few comments here, that is a bit more "serious". He certainly didn't sunbathe every day, and it seems there were periods of time (not even only during his "riches to rags" time period) where it seems he didn't visit the hotel every day.
He also had a poolside cabana that he used often; cabanas are usually covered and provide shade.
Insufficient sun exposure is responsible for approximately 340,000 deaths annually in the United States and 480,000 deaths annually in Europe, while non-melanoma skin cancers account for 63,700 deaths worldwide. Skin cancer only occurs due to excessive exposure combined with a weakened immune system, which is really rare.
You're more likely to die in a traffic accident or from insufficient sun exposure than to ever develop skin cancer.
Australia. We have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world due to high UV levels.
“Skin cancer causes more deaths than transport accidents every year in Australia.”
I can’t leave the house for more than like five minutes for big chunks for at least half the year without having to smother myself in sunscreen so for large parts of the year I just don’t go outside during like 9AM-6PM.
I fell asleep once in the car with the window open by mistake, I was out for like 45 minutes. A decade later that arm is still an entirely different color to my other one. Wild, one of the worst burns I’ve ever had.
edit
And to think, that’s die from a skin cancer, not merely develop it. So it actually blows that claim out of the water for Australia by a way larger margin than I initially thought.
2 out of 3 Australians will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.
He also had a poolside cabana that he used often; cabanas are usually covered and provide shade.