Hunter S Thompson R.I.P

Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash

Jul 6, 2003

70,314

• Feb 21, 2005

• #1

CEEFAX reporting that 'Hunter S Thompson, the American counterculture writer, has been found dead at his home in Colorado. Police said the 67-year-old shot himself. His body was found by his son.

He is best known for his 1972 account of a drug-addled Nevada trip, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Other books are Hells angels and Generation of Swine.

He pioneered "gonzo journalism" a factual style in which the writer was an essential part of the story, and was an acute observer of American life".

R.I.P.

 

R

REDLAND

Active member

Jul 7, 2003

9,443

At the foot of the downs

• Feb 21, 2005

• #2

a great author RIP

 

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Cheeky Monkey

Well-known member

Jul 17, 2003

23,054

• Feb 21, 2005

• #3

Shocking news.

 

Curious Orange

Punxsatawney Phil

Jul 5, 2003

9,964

On NSC for over two decades...

• Feb 21, 2005

• #4

Very sad to hear of the man's death. This is one story he won't be able to write up; perhaps his attorney will do it for him.

 

D'Angelo Saxon

SW19ULLS

Jul 30, 2004

3,097

SW19

• Feb 21, 2005

• #5

Fear and Loathing is one of my favorite books. RIP HST.

 

Lady Bracknell

Handbag at Dawn

Jul 5, 2003

4,514

The Metropolis

• Feb 21, 2005

• #6

D'Angelo Saxon said:

Fear and Loathing is one of my favorite books. RIP HST.

Click to expand...

I'll second that.

 

Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster

Jul 5, 2003

72,015

• Feb 21, 2005

• #7

I'll third it

 

Le Premier Cru

Member

Jul 14, 2003

891

BN2

• Feb 21, 2005

• #8

I read 'Hell's Angels' - an entertaining if at times gruesome number.

I'd love to get hold of another copy.

 

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Brixton Seagull 2

New member

Jul 31, 2003

351

preston park, not brixton anymore.

• Feb 21, 2005

• #9

For a man so obsessed with his gun collection, it's perhaps no surprise that he died this way. But what a genius writer. RIP.

 

Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash

Jul 6, 2003

70,314

• Feb 21, 2005

• Thread starter
• #10

Brixton Seagull 2 said:

For a man so obsessed with his gun collection, it's perhaps no surprise that he died this way. But what a genius writer. RIP.

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HST's all-time hero was Ernest Hemingway - who died aged 61, of self inflicted gun shot wounds.

HST was a god-like genius to some of us. Carried around a copy of 'The Great Shark Hunt' for YEARS. About seven hundred pages and the size of a house brick, it is maybe the finest feast of gonzo reportage you could ever buy.

(name-dropping from here on in, albeit with a reason - but you may want to look away NOW)

Me & me bruv's punk band once blagged a support slot for The Fall at Canterbury Uni (we started with a cover of The Fall's 'Frightened' which Mark E. smith later reported was 'shit'...). Which it was, to be fair. While The Fall were on stage, we had a sniff around MES's travelling bag, looking for dr*gs. Drew a blank on that front, but noted with admiration that he did have a copy of The Great Shark Hunt in there. And not a lot else. Top bloke! Great influences! & we once went to interview his collaborator, Ralph Steadman, at his castle on the outskirts of Maidstone. Just missed HST by THREE WEEKS DAMMIT. Heard some marvellous tales down in the local country pub about this six foot six mumbling and staggering American who demanded a whole range of extras not normally provided by a village pub in Kent - including generous to the point of criminality lock-ins and use of the landlord's shotgun. After the lock-ins...

To cut a dull story short, magazine stitched me up, not great fans of HST apparently, so article remains unpublished to this day. Includes transcripts of some stuff that HST bashed out on Steadman's ageing typewriter.

(If anybody's interested in publishing it, get in touch by PM)

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2005

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n1 gull

Well-known member

Jul 25, 2003

4,638

Hurstpierpoint

• Feb 21, 2005

• #11

Fear and Loathing my favourite book by a mile.
He was inspirational writer, some of his Nixon stuff is fantastic, he f*cking hated him.
R.I.P dude.

 

On the Left Wing

KIT NAPIER

Oct 9, 2003

7,094

Wolverhampton

• Feb 21, 2005

• #12

Agree about Fear and Loathing .....

RIP HST

 

kalinski

Well-known member

Feb 1, 2004

1,203

Burwash, East Sussex, United Kingdom, United Kingd

• Feb 21, 2005

• #13

D'Angelo Saxon said:

Fear and Loathing is one of my favorite books. RIP HST.

Click to expand...

same here gutted

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2005

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cheshunt seagull

Well-known member

Jul 5, 2003

2,498

• Feb 21, 2005

• #14

A great and unique writer. Strangely, considering his style, a voice of sanity and humanity in an increasingly dangerously messed up and extreme country. I will miss him.