Robert Grey Reynolds Jr Popular Books
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr Biography & Facts
Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago, GE (11 October 1928 – 12 May 1957), best known as Alfonso de Portago, was a Spanish aristocrat, racing and bobsleigh driver, jockey and pilot. Born in London to a prominent family in the peerage of Spain, he was named after his godfather, king Alfonso XIII. His grandfather, the 9th Marquess of Portago had been Mayor of Madrid while his father, who was President of Puerta de Hierro and a prolific golfer, died of a heart attack while showering after a polo match. His mother, Olga Leighton, was an Irish nurse. At age 17, Portago began displaying his flamboyant lifestyle by winning a $500 bet after flying a borrowed plane under London Tower Bridge. He twice rode the Grand National as "gentleman rider" and formed the first Spanish bobsleigh team with his cousins, finishing 4th in the 1956 Winter Olympics, shaving the bronze medal by 0.14 seconds.In 1953, he was introduced into the Scuderia Ferrari team, competing at the Carrera Panamericana, 1000 km Buenos Aires and several Grand Prix, including a win and second place at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and 1956 British Grand Prix respectively. His promising career was cut short in May 1957 after his renowned Ferrari 335 S crashed near the village of Guidizzolo when a tyre burst while driving along a dead straight road at 150 mph (240 km/h) in the 1957 running of the Mille Miglia, killing Portago, his navigator, and nine spectators. The young age of the marquess who was 28 at the time of his death combined with his status as a sex symbol caused a shock amongst many, having several tributes and landmarks named after him, most notably the "Portago curve" at Jarama racetrack.The Marquess of Portago was seen by many as a true playboy of his time; "a tall, handsome and wealthy Spanish aristocrat who captured everybody's imagination". Gregor Grant famously said of him: "a man like Portago appears only once in a generation, and it would probably be more accurate to say only once in a lifetime. The fellow does everything fabulously well. Never mind the driving, the steeplechasing, the bobsledding, the athletic side of things, never mind being fluent in 4 languages. (...) He could be the best bridge player in the world if he cared to try, he could certainly be a great soldier, and I suspect he could be a fine writer". Biography Early life Portago was born in London, he was educated at Biarritz, in France. He became articulate in four languages, and spoke English with a distinctive British accent. Portago was heir to one of the most respected titles in Spain and a millionaire. Among his ancestors were explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. His father was Antonio Cabeza de Vaca, 10th Marquess of Portago, who died during half time at a polo match at a young age. His paternal grandfather was Vicente Cabeza de Vaca, 9th Marquess of Portago, mayor of Madrid. His mother was named Olga Leighton and was an Irish nurse. She also had a daughter named Sol, for Soledad, who married and became known as the Marchioness of Moratalla in racing circles. She died in 2017. Olga's first husband, Frank Mackey was more than 40 years older than she was. He shot himself while terminally ill and left Olga an enormous fortune made as founder of Household Finance Corp. Portago was a first cousin of Vicente Sartorius, 4th Marquess of Mariño as well as José Luis de Vilallonga, 9th Marquess of Castellbell. Portago was dark-haired and had freckles and blue eyes. He was 1.83 m (6 ft) tall and weighed 77 kg (170 Ibs). He famously won a bet at the age of 17 when he flew his plane beneath London Tower Bridge. He participated twice in the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree as a gentleman jockey, although he found keeping his weight down to be a struggle. Race car driver Portago began racing sports cars in 1953 after his meeting with the Ferrari importer in the USA, Luigi Chinetti, who asked him to be his co-driver in the Carrera Panamericana. He later raced alone in a personal Ferrari Sport model at the 1954 1000 km Buenos Aires. Portago won six major races, including the Tour de France automobile race, the Grand Prix of Oporto, and the Nassau Governor's Cup (twice). In Nassau, during the winter of 1956, Portago trailed the car ahead of him by centimeters while travelling at 240 km/h. Portago used his skill to avert careening into a crowd after the driver ahead of him touched his brakes and both cars went into a 180 m skid. Among sports car enthusiasts, Portago was known as a two-car man, because of the many burned-out brakes, clutches, transmissions, and wrecked cars for which he was responsible. He often needed several cars to finish a race.He participated in 5 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 1 July 1956. His best result was a second place at the 1956 British Grand Prix (a shared drive with Peter Collins), and scored a total of four championship points. In 1953 he raced with Chinetti in the Carrera Panamericana. During the 1955 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Portago was thrown from his Ferrari while racing at 140 km/h after losing control on a patch of oil. He was hospitalized with a broken leg. Bobsleigh He also was a bobsleigh runner, recruiting several cousins in order to form Spain's first bobsleigh team for the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo. He had had only two or three practice runs in Switzerland before buying a pair of sleds. With Portago steering, the two-man bob finished fourth to the surprise of the traditional teams, missing out on a medal by 0.16 seconds. He was introduced to bobsledding by an American from Beloit, Wisconsin, Edmund Nelson, whom he later teamed up with in order to win the Tour de France automobile race. Portago also won a bronze medal in the two-man event at the 1957 FIBT World Championships in St. Moritz. Death He and his co-driver Edmund Nelson were killed on 12 May 1957 in a crash during that year's Mille Miglia, in a straight road section between Cerlongo and Guidizzolo, in the communal territory of Cavriana about 70 km from Brescia, the start and finish point of the event race. The wreck also claimed the lives of nine spectators, among them five children. Portago was apprehensive about competing in the Mille Miglia, a race he considered too dangerous to be run, as he was concerned about the almost complete impossibility of knowing every corner (even with a navigator) and every possible road condition over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of open public roads with very limited information on what to expect in the race. A tire blew on Portago's third-place Ferrari 335 S causing it to spin into the crowd lining the highway. He was travelling at 240 km/h (150 mph). The 335 hurtled over a canal on the left side of the road, then veered back across the canal, causing the deaths of nine onlookers in total. Two of the dead children were hit by a concrete highway milestone that was ripped from the ground by Portago's car and thrown int.... Discover the Robert Grey Reynolds Jr popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert Grey Reynolds Jr books.
Best Seller Robert Grey Reynolds Jr Books of 2024
-
Glenn Fireball Roberts
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Glenn Fireball Roberts acquired his nickname as a sandlot baseball player before he pitched two years for the University of Florida baseball team. Roberts became one of the most su...
-
Nude Photography, Student Models, Camera Clubs and Crimes
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.My research has uncovered nude photography of university student models in California who posed for hardly anything in return for free photos of themselves in clothes. Another item...
-
College Women Nude Art And Photo Models
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.College women posing nude was a controversial topic for many years. At the University of WisconsinMadison, in 1937, a coed was dismissed for posing for a drawing class. The college...
-
Jo Collins 1965 Playboy Playmate of the Year
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Jo Collins is one of the most popular women to ever pose for Playboy Magazine. The editors of the publication discovered her while she was working as a page for a television show. ...
-
The Crash Of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 Into Lake Michigan
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Flight 2501, a Northwest Orient Douglas DC4 Airliner crashed into Lake Michigan sometime around midnight on June 23, 1950. The plane had departed LaGuardia Airport in New York City...
-
Gambino Hit On Pizza Shop Owner Pietro Alfano Greenwich Village February 1987 The Pizza Connection
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.The Pizza Connection was a conspiracy involving the Sicilian Mafia, La Cosa Nostra in the United States and pizza parlor owners and employees. It was a virtual international heroin...
-
Anthony Spilotro Chicago and Las Vegas Mafia Enforcer
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Anthony Spilotro was an integral lynch pin in the Chicago Mafia. His criminal career began in 1955 when he stole from a Cook County haberdashery. "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio tutored...
-
A United Airlines Boeing 727 Crashes Into Lake Michigan August 16, 1965
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.A United Airlines Boeing 727 crashed into Lake Michigan on its approach to O'Hare International Airport on August 16, 1965. The plane was the first Boeing 727 to ever crash. In the...
-
Playboy Bunnies, Strippers And Nude Photography
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Playboy Bunnies like film starlet Sabrina Scharf used their tenure as Club Bunnies to promote their careers and afford European travel. Scharf, who was signed by Columbia Studios i...
-
Charles Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese The Mafia Murder of Giuseppe Masseria Coney Island, New York April 15, 1931
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Giuseppe Masseria was a Mafia strongman in New York City, an associate of Chicago's famed gang chieftain, Al Capone. Masseria's April 1931 murder was an especially brutal one, but ...
-
Angelo Bruno Philadelphia Organized Crime Boss
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Angelo Bruno was a Mafia don in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey until he was shot dead as he arrived home one evening from an Italian restaurant. It was when competitors encro...
-
Marilyn Monroe New York City
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Marilyn's period in New York City from 19541957 is interesting because it was a time of change and growth for the actress. She formed her own company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, t...
-
The Auschwitz Bergen-Belsen Trials
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Juana Bormann was one of the most tormenting and evil of the women who worked guarding female prisoners at Auschwitz and BergenBelsen concentration camps. From camp survivors we kn...
-
Burned Beyond Recognition The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire March 25, 1911
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire happened on a Saturday inside the Asch Building in what is now Greenwich Village. Multiple tenants occupied the twelve floors of the building a...
-
June 1967 Playboy Centerfold Arrested For Prostitution And Other Playmate Memories
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.My ebook leads off with the totally unexpected 1967 arrest of Joey Gibson, a Playboy Playmate whose nude pictorial had only recently run in the men's magazine. Gibson was apprehend...
-
Playboy Club Bunny Profiles 1962-1973
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.The New York Playboy Club in Manhattan opened in December 1962. The new venue interviewed around 3,000 young women before selecting 135 mostly 1825 year olds. Playboy Magazine foun...
-
Guy Banister, the FBI, New Orleans and the JFK Assassination
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.I believe that the successful plot to murder President John F. Kennedy took shape in New Orleans during the summer of 1963. It was then that W. Guy Banister ran a detective office ...
-
Adolfo Bruno Western Massachusetts Genovese Mafia Underboss
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno was a major figure in the western Massachusetts underworld until he was gunned down in 2003. Bruno and his associate John Nettis were tried on two occasions i...
-
Willie Bioff Theatrical Unions, Walt Disney Strikers, and Film Industry Extortion
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Willie Bioff was head of the Theatrical Workers Union which had a membership of 40,00046,000 in 1941. My ebook looks at his negotiations with film industry titans like Walt and Roy...
-
Holocaust Survivors Recall The Horrors of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp Near Berlin, Germany
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Ravensbruck, a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women, was located some 80 kilometers from Berlin. My ebook looks at first person accounts of prisoners who were inmates at t...
-
Eyewitnesses From Belsen and Auschwitz
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps were notorious places of torture for both Jewish and Allied prisoners. My ebook considers the testimony of survivors. They graphically depi...
-
Varina Howell Davis First Lady of the Confederate States of America
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Varina Howell Davis was the granddaughter of Richard Howell, the third governor of New Jersey. Her father, William Burr Howell, came to Natchez, Mississippi where Varina was raised...
-
Vincent the Chin Gigante
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Vincent the Chin Gigante rose to the top of the Genovese crime syndicate, becoming its Boss in 1986. Early in his life he was a heavyweight boxer who fought in various venues aroun...
-
Nazi Atrocities Babi-Yar Ravine Rovno, Poland Nov 1941
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.In November 1941 SS Troops murdered 102,000 civilians and prisoners of war in the prewar Poland area of Rovno. Rovno became an important Nazi base following the German invasion of ...
-
The Murder of John Nardi Cleveland Mobster And Teamsters Union Official
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.John Nardi's May 1977 bombing murder was one of many that occurred during a gang war for Cleveland Mafia supremacy. Nardi was closely linked to murdered Irish mobster Daniel "Danny...
-
Frank Valenti Rochester, New York Mobster Exiled To Pittsburgh
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Frank Valenti was a Mafia figure who controlled Rochester, New York underworld activities from 19641972. He was an integral part of the Stefano Magaddino criminal syndicate, based ...
-
Joseph The Animal Barboza
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Joseph Barboza was a hitman and associate for New England Mafia don Raymond Patriarcha and also Henry Tameleo. Barboza was in trouble with the law starting in 1945. In my research ...
-
Fred Harvey Bonadonna Kansas City Mafia Soldier and Mob Deserter
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Fred Harvey Bonadonna was a turncoat Kansas City mobster who turned evidence against Willie the Rat Cammisano during a 1980 Senate subcommittee investigation into organized crime. ...
-
Cocaine Wasteland A Porn Star Is D.O.A.
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Colleen Marie Applegate/Shauna Grant underwent a personality change during her final year in high school in Farmington, Minnesota. Replacing the wholesome, AllAmerican girl was som...
-
Irma Grese Angel Of Death At Bergen-Belsen And Oswiecim Concentration Camps
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Irma Grese was among the Nazi war criminals tried and found guilty at the Lueneburg, Germany trial held from SeptemberNovember 1945. Grese aspired to be a nurse but was assigned to...
-
Magaddino Mafia Family Buffalo, New York 1963-1970
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.The Magaddino crime family of Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York was controlled by brothers Stefano and Antonio Magaddino. The siblings managed illicit criminal activity that extended...
-
Angelo Lapietra Chinatown Caporegime Chicago Outfit
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Angelo Lapietra is notorious for his role as an enforcer/hit man for the Chicago Outfit. In 1986 Lapietra was convicted for his role in a profits skimming conspiracy involving Las ...
-
Aniello DellaCroce Gambino Family Underboss
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Aniello DellaCroce led an insurrection to wrest power away from Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino. The underboss was a protege of the late Mafia enforcer Albert Anastasia. De...
-
Anthony Porcelli Genovese Soldier
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Anthony Porcelli was a Genovese family soldier closely linked to international drug smuggling and trafficking operations. Among these was the notorious French Connection drug ring ...
-
Bobby Baker Democratic Party Insider, Pimp and Con Man
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.Bobby Baker was a smooth operator in many areas of the political spectrum. He procured women for politicians, invested in exorbitant land and real estate deals, and often double cr...
-
General James Wilkinson
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.James Wilkinson has been maligned throughout American History as a schemer and an unscrupulous individual. My ebook looks at many incidents in his military career that earned him t...
-
The Admiral Graf Spee
Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.The Admiral Graf Spee was one of three pocket battleships built by Nazi Germany in the years before the outbreak of World War II. It came into Montevideo harbor in Uruguay seeking ...