Some 30 years ago, the paper by Saslaw, Valtonen and Aarseth introduced the term ``gravitational slingshot'' into the literature. This concept was invoked to explain the properties of double radio sources by means of ejection from a strongly bound triple system, where a binary was also ejected by recoil. Since then several investigations have illustrated the general behaviour of such triple interactions in different types of N-body systems, although not much detailed analysis is available.
In this celebratory contribution, we present some new data from standard star cluster modelling containing primordial binaries and triples, as well as results from a binary black hole simulation with two massive members. In the star cluster case, the process of mass loss from evolving stars, together with general mass segregation, promotes favourable interactions involving compact subsystems of binaries and triples in the central region. Three-body interactions often lead to energetic ejections, with one or more of the components attaining relatively large terminal velocities. Hence the presence of primordial binaries in both open clusters and the richer globulars inevitably produces some high escape velocities which can be observed in principle.
The second type of stellar system to be discussed is based on the scenario of two approaching galactic cores with density cusps, each containing a massive black hole. After the subsystems become well mixed, the two massive components soon form a hard binary which gains energy by ejecting other members. Such a massive binary has a large cross section and can be very effective in depleting bound stars from the core. Again high-velocity escapers are produced, with their terminal speeds related to the shrinking binary size. Although the large mass ratio prevents escape by recoil here, the Brownian motions of the binary exceed the predicted values significantly. This wandering is due to the small restoring force near the centre and has implications for the so-called loss cone depletion.