My very first sessions involved going with my older brother, when he was about 12 and I'd have been 8 or 9.... He quickly lost interest with it, but something really stuck with me and I started going frequently, sometimes with mates from school, more often alone.
If there was anyone at this stage "inspiring" me, it would have probably been the local tackle shop owner, a Mr Ian Hayden. Although he was a bit gruff he always had some time for the kids that went in his shop for half a pint of maggots. He'd show some interest in what you wanted to catch, with a word or two of advice and maybe some inside information on where was fishing well locally. Tackle shops can be intimidating places for kids but he did his bit to keep the enthusiasm alive.
Then came girls, guitars, music, guitars and girls.... I stopped for about 5 or 6 years. And then the next person to "inspire" me was simply a good friend from down the pub who it turned out share my boyhood passion for fishing and had spent most of his years as a lad fishing on the same waters. So at the age of about 20, we started fishing together and that's something I'm very happy to say is still going on 26 years later.
I've never really looked at famous anglers in terms of what they do and the results they achieve with a mind to thinking - "that's what I want to do..." With maybe one exception. The "Rod Race" series that Matt Hayes made with Mick Brown did seem to portray two anglers entirely at ease in each others company, enjoying their fishing and a good deal of banter, celebrating any really notable catches along the way, without that every being the be all and end all. Reminds me a lot of my motivation for fishing now.