Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode is on the natural born entertainer and man of steel; steel balls anyway, Evel Knievel.

Evel Knievel was born in 1938 in the mining town of Butte, Montana and became one of the greatest stuntmen in American history. He grew up with his grand parents after his mother and father divorced when he was just 6 months old. As a young man he gave everything a go, from mining, selling insurance, ice hockey, to safe cracking.

He settled on being a motorbike stuntman and forged ahead, organising, marketing, MC and performing at all his events. He changed his name and adopted the iconic stars and stripes suit. He quickly grew with his showmanship and courage and became a household name. He continued to push the limits with his stunts, becoming bigger and more daring. Some of these stunts included:

· Fourteen Greyhound Buses – Kings Island Theme Park, Ohio

· Caesar’s Palace Fountain – Las Vegas, Nevada

· Ten Buses – Wembley Stadium, London

He was a wild man and probably drank more than he should have and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. One example of this was at an event in San Francisco where he condemned the Hells Angels before a jump. They reacted by throwing a tyre iron at him to which Evel then threw his bike into a slide knocking the guy over. After this apparently around 500 people jumped out of the grandstand and beat the hell out of, “The Hell’s Angels!”

Knievel’s legacy lives on through books, documentaries, movies, toys, and has two museums dedicated to his life, one in Las Vegas and one in Kansas.

Hi life, alure and fame can probably be best described by one of his quotes where he said "Nobody wants to see me die, but they don't want to miss it, if I do".

Today’s mnemonic will be on Evel Knievel’s top five stunts.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evel_Knievel_(1974).jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel (/ˈiːvəl kəˈniːvəl/), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.[1]

Evel Knievel was born in Butte, Montana. Raised by his paternal grandparents, Knievel was inspired to become a motorcycle daredevil after attending a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show. He left high school early to work in the copper mines but was later fired for causing a city-wide power outage.

After adopting the nickname "Evel Knievel", he participated in rodeos and ski jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team. To support his family, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service and later worked as an insurance salesman.

Eventually, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership in Washington, but faced difficulties promoting Japanese imports. After the dealership closed, Knievel worked at a motorcycle shop where he learned motocross stunts that would later contribute to his daredevil career.

Knievel's most famous stunt was an attempt to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace, which resulted in severe injuries. Despite never successfully jumping the Grand Canyon, Knievel became a legendary figure, breaking numerous records and bones throughout his career.

On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket-powered cycle called the Skycycle X-2. The jump failed after the parachute deployed prematurely, but Knievel survived with minor injuries.

Knievel sought to profit from his image through endorsements and marketing deals. American Eagle Motorcycles signed him, and his popularity grew with young boys.

From 1972 to 1977, Ideal Toy Company sold over $125 million worth of Knievel toys. Knievel's fame led to TV appearances and partnerships with companies like AMF and Harley-Davidson.

However, after an assault conviction and jail time, he lost endorsements and declared bankruptcy. Despite a decline in his daredevil career, Knievel made a marketing comeback in the 1990s and continued to be involved in various ventures.

Knievel died on November 30, 2007, at the age of 69 due to diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was buried in his hometown of Butte, Montana. Posthumously, Knievel has been honored through various exhibits, a museum, and tribute jumps. His legacy also lives on in television commercials featuring his iconic stunts.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:X-2_Skycycle.jpg

Mnemonic

Evel Knievel – Top 5 Stunts Mnemonic – Bone FaCTT

(Picture Evel Knievel the stuntman that holds the Guinness World Record for the most broken bones of 433 in his lifetime)

1. Box of Rattlesnakes – Moses Lake, Washington

2. Fourteen Greyhound Buses – Kings Island Theme Park, Ohio

3. Caesar’s Palace Fountain – Las Vegas, Nevada

4. Ten Buses – Wembley Stadium, London

5. Two Pick-Up Trucks – Indio, California

Five Fun Facts

1. Knievel left school after his sophomore year and landed a job in the copper mines as a diamond drill operator with the Anaconda Mining Company. He was promoted to surface duty, where he drove a large earth mover. So, things were going very well until he decided to try and wheelie his large earth mover and caught and took out Butte’s main power line, leaving the city without electricity.

2. As mentioned in the Wikipedia article Knievel real name was Robert Craig Knievel. He came about the name Evel when he spent a night in jail after being arrested for reckless driving. In jail he met a man by the name of William Knofel who had the alliterative name of “Awful Knofel.” So, Robert thought that evil rhymes with Knievel and so it was “Evel Knievel.”

3. Knievel had a couple of rough starts that you would have probably thought might have turned him away from the stunt world. Firstly, he started riding a motorcycle at the young age of thirteen, where he immediately started to show off and ended up crashing his bike into the neighbour’s garage which started a fire. Secondly, his first jump was for a mate whose dealership wasn’t going so well. So, he decided to do a stunt to get some attention for the dealership which included jumping over a twenty-foot-long box of Rattlesnakes. He ended up a little bit short and smashed open the box with his back wheel. He was unharmed (not sure about the snakes) and then he finished his show by jumping over two Mountain Lions.

Now, just speaking of stunts apparently Chuck Norris admitted to using stunt doubles in his films. But only for the crying parts! As for me, well, I do all my own stunts … … just never intentionally!

4. Evel Knievel in his heyday was seriously famous and with that comes the money. He had yachts,’ mink coats, cars, motorcycles, and a Learjet among much more. He lived the high life and spent accordingly, once losing $250,000 at blackjack, and is quoted as saying, "I Made $60 million, spent 61.”

5. Over his life, as I’m sure you have a sense by now, he amassed some pretty significant injuries. As a result over his career, he spent a total of around three years in hospital. When he finally did retire, he had a stroke, a bleeding oesophagus, incurable lung disease, broken ribs, a broken hip, spinal-fusion surgery, and a liver transplant. He died at the age of 69 in 2007.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evel_Knievel_1974b.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. How many days was Evel Knievel in a coma for after his jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace, where he broke his pelvis, hip, femur, wrist, both ankles, and a few ribs? Options are 9 hours, 9 days, or 29 days

Q.2. Which movie star read the eulogy at Evel Knievel’s funeral? Options are Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Lee, or Linda Hamilton

Q.3. What year was Evel Knievel inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame? Options are 1989, 1999, or 2009

Bonus Q. Which rap singer was Evel Knievel involved in a legal dispute over infringement of his trademark leather jumpsuit? Options are MC Hammer, Kanye West, or Vanilla Ice

Mnemonic Recap

Evel Knievel – Top 5 Stunts Mnemonic – Bone FaCTT

(Picture Evel Knievel, the stuntman who holds the Guinness World Record for the most broken bones of 433 in his lifetime)

1. Box of Rattlesnakes – Moses Lake, Washington

2. Fourteen Greyhound Buses – Kings Island Theme Park, Ohio

3. Caesar’s Palace Fountain – Las Vegas, Nevada

4. Ten Buses – Wembley Stadium, London

5. Two Pick-Up Trucks – Indio, California

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. How many days was Evel Knievel in a coma for after his jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace, where he broke his pelvis, hip, femur, wrist, both ankles, and a few ribs? Options are 9 hours, 9 days, or 29 days

A. 29 days though this figure is refuted by some

Q.2. Which movie star read the eulogy at Evel Knievel’s funeral? Options are Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Lee, or Linda Hamilton

A. Matthew McConaughey, who said the very fitting words, “He’s forever in flight now. He doesn’t have to come back down. He doesn’t have to land.”

Q.3. What year was Evel Knievel inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame? Options are 1989, 1999, or 2009

A. 1999

Bonus Q. Which rap singer was Evel Knievel involved in a legal dispute over infringement of his trademark leather jumpsuit? Options are MC Hammer, Kanye West, or Vanilla Ice

A. Kanye West. In the end, it was settled out of court, after which Evel died shortly after

Word of the Week

wabi-sabi

[ wah-bee-sah-bee ]

noun

The concept of finding beauty in things that are simple, imperfect, or impermanent

Example

Evel Knievel was the embodiment of wabi-sabi which made him one of the most popular and biggest celebrities in America in the 1970s.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]

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