Elvis on a motorbike, Evel Knievel was one of the icons of the Seventies. With his star-spangled red, white and blue leathers—apparently inspired by Liberace rather than the King—and mussed-up blonde mop, cape flying behind him as he catapulted his Harley XR750 over buses, cars and canyons, Evel was excess personified. Spent, schtupped, drank, popped, jumped and snapped (35 bones broken, 36 months spent in hospital) until it was all gone. “I always wanted to live to about 70,” he claimed, in an interview still to be published in Vanity Fair. “I thought that’d be a good age. There’s just no stopping me.” More »
