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Birth
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and writer. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, to a middle-class family. He is well known as author of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" -
His father's death
Thompson had a turbulent youth after the death of his father left the family in poverty. He was unable to formally finish high school as he was jailed for 60 days after abetting a robbery. -
Hunter joins USA army
Hunter joined the United States Air Force before moving into journalism. He joined USA army to hide from his employer, because he crashed service truck. He traveled frequently. He was in California, Puerto Rico and Brazil, before settling in Aspen, Colorado, in the early 1960s. -
Hunter leaves army
When he was 18, he was fired from army for insubordination and bad influence on others -
Work in magazines
In 1959 he joined the magazine «The Time», but soon again was fired for insubordination. In the same year he worked as a reporter «Middletown Daily Record in New York," and was fired for fighting to manager and damaging vending machine with chocolate -
Work in Middletown Big Sur Hot Springs
In 1961 Thompson served as a guard and caretaker at Big Sur Hot Springs during eight months.
At the same time, Thompson wrote two novels "Prince jellyfish" and "The Rum Diary" -
Marriage
In 1963, Hunter married his longtime girlfriend Sandra Conklin -
Hunter's son birth
In 1964 they (Hunter and Sandra) had a son Juan. They tried to have more children, but failed. -
Story about motocycle club
In 1965, Carey McWilliams, editor of The Nation, hired Thompson to write a story about the California-based Hells Angels* motorcycle club. He spent the next year living and riding with the gang. The relationship broke down when the bikers perceived that Thompson was exploiting them for personal gain, and demanded a share of the profits from his writings. An argument at a party resulted in a savage beating for Thompson (or "stomping", as the Angels referred to it). -
"Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs"
Thompson became internationally known with the publication of Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1967), for which he had spent a year living and riding with the Angels, experiencing their lives and hearing their stories from first hand -
"Gonzo"
With the publication in 1970 of "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" he became a counter cultural figure, with his own brand of New Journalism he termed "Gonzo", an experimental style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action so much that they become central figures of their stories.
Despite the fact that the article was for a sports magazine , least of all attention is paid directly to the horse racings. -
Publishing "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
In 1971 Hunter published the book for which he gained most of his fame - "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" in Rolling Stone. It was a kind of first-person report from a journalist (Thompson himself under the pseudonym "Raoul Duke") on a trip to Las Vegas with a lawyer "Dr. Gonzo" (Hunter's friend) whose aim was to describe the legendary motorcycles racing "Mint 400", and then police drug conference. -
Divorce
Hunter and Sandy divorced in 1980 but always remained close friends. -
Period: to
Rolling stone
Writing to Rolling Stone. Publishind book "The Curse of Lono" -
Hunter's brother death
James Thompson dies from AIDS -
2nd Marriage
Thompson married his longtime assistant, Anita Bejmuk -
"Kingdom of Fear"
Kingdom of Fear, combined new material, selected newspaper clippings, and some older works.
There was described an expirience about how he was accused of sexual assault and cocaine keeping. 11-hour search of Thompson's home turned up various kinds of drugs and a few sticks of dynamite. -
Suicide
Thompson died at Owl Farm, in Woody Creek, Colorado, at 5:42 p.m. on February 20, 2005, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Anita Thompson, who was at The Aspen Club, was on the phone with her husband as he cocked the gun. That was a premeditated act resulting from his many painful and chronic medical conditions, which included a hip replacement.
