arkhipov was known to be a shy and humble man. in a pbs documentary titled "the man who saved the world", his wife described him as intelligent, polite and very calm. much of what is known about his personality comes from her. according to her, he enjoyed searching for newspapers during their vacations and tried to stay up-to-date with the modern world as much as possible. in this same interview, olga alludes to her husband's possible superstitious beliefs as well. she recalls walking in on vasili burning a bundle of their love letters inside their house, claiming that keeping the letters would mean "bad luck".