• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

FACTBOX-Five facts about daredevil Evel Knievel

Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:41pm EST

(Reuters) - Five facts about U.S. motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, who died on Friday at age 69:

U.S.  |  Sports

* A jailer in Montana was responsible for Knievel's nickname. As a youth, Knievel had several run-ins with police and the jailer dubbed him "Evil Knievel." In order not to be perceived as a bad guy, Knievel later changed the spelling to "Evel" as his daredevil career took off.

* Among Knievel's notable feats were clearing 19 cars in 1971, sailing over 13 Mack trucks in 1974 and jumping 13 double-decker buses in London in 1975, as well as a failed attempt to leap the Snake River Canyon in Idaho on a rocket-powered motorcycle in 1974.

* Knievel played himself in the 1977 movie "Viva Knievel!" The plot featured a rival trying to kill Knievel and use his 18-wheel truck to smuggle cocaine. George Hamilton portrayed him in a 1971 film and George Eads played him in a 2004 television movie.

* Knievel starred in track and field, hockey and ski jumping in high school.

* National Football League kicker Adam Vinatieri, best known for kicking game-winning field goals in the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots, is Knievel's cousin.

(Writing by Bill Trott; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
U.S.
Sports


More from Reuters

Demonstrator holds a signboard with a slogan "Bla bla bla ACT NOW" during a rally outside the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen December 12, 2009. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

"Polluters are given rights to continue their dirty habits"

A climate change scientist blasts proposals for a cap and trade system, arguing it allows dirty industries to continue polluting, instead of rewarding innovation.  Full Article | Full Coverage 

    Climate Conference
    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is pictured at his Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on his nomination to continue as Chairman of the Board of Governors, on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 3, 2009. REUTERS/Jason Reed

    No great expectations

    Investors are getting antsy about when the Fed will tighten its purse strings, now that the economy appears to be coming back to life.   Full Article 

    ECONOMY
    Indian woman mourns death of her relative killed in tsunami in Cuddalore. When an earthquake of magnitude 9.15 struck off Indonesia's Aceh province on December, 26, 2004, it triggered a huge tsuanmi that raced across the Indian Ocean and hit Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. The worst natural disaster of the decade left 230,000 people dead or missing. Taken on December 28, 2004 by Arko Datta

    Pictures that defined a decade

    A woman's grief amid the tsunami devastation and one woman's fight against police in the Amazon are among the indelible Reuters images of the last 10 years.  Slideshow 

    Pictures