US:Daredevil Evel Knievel, who dodged death in a series of spectacular motorcycle leaps and crashes that made his name synonymous with showmanship, died yesterday aged 69, according to a message on his web site.
In his heyday, the tempestuous showman dressed like a superhero for his jumps, wearing a red, white and blue leather jumpsuit with a cape and cane.
Knievel's greatest stunt turned out to be a failure when in 1974 he tried to ride a rocket-powered motorcycle across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. With a nationwide television audience watching, the parachute de- ployed when his motorcycle was only about two-thirds across, sending it into the canyon wall. It landed partly in the river but Knievel walked away with minor injuries.