1970s

Revolutionizing Femininity: Germaine Greer’s Pioneering Ideas

January 29, 2024January 28, 2024Bill Thompson

In the early 1970s many women had two books on their shelves: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer.

That was the then-31-year-old’s first book and virtually overnight turned her into an international celebrity A leader of the feminist movement

Her ideas about femininity, Male-female relationships, and marriage You find those things For millions of readers

In the years that followed Greer was a prolific writer of essays and books Many of those essays were collected in a 1987 volume which she entitled The Madwoman’s Underclothes. And that’s when I had a chance to spend a few minutes with this iconic figure.

So here now, from 1987, Germaine Greer

Today, January 29, is Germaine Greer’s 85th birthday. She divides her time between England and Australia .

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Echoes of a Legend: John Denver’s Autobiography

January 8, 2024January 7, 2024Bill Thompson

When John Denver died in a plane crash in October 1997, the world lost not just a popular singer, but a songwriter whose work touched the hearts of millions.

Among the 300 or so songs that he recorded, some 200 he wrote. He had 33 gold records, and was uncommonly successful in crossing genre lines, from country to adult contemporary to the Billboard Hot 100. .

Both Colorado and West Virginia have adopted John Denver songs as official state songs.

In 1994, John Denver published his autobiography, called Take Me Home. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1994, John Denver.

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How Deborah Layton Escaped the 1978 Jonestown Massacre

November 17, 2023November 12, 2023Bill Thompson

II was news that stunned the entire world, this week in 1978.

Inspired by a charismatic leader named Jim Jones, more than 900 people, including over 300 children, had committed suicide at he People’s Temple compound in Jonestown Guyana.

Many had died after drinking a soft drink laced with cyanide.
It popularized the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” to mean blindly following a dangerous leader or way of thinking.

One lucky young woman, Deborah Layton, was able to escape Jonestown, although her brother Larry was not so lucky.

It took her 20 years, but finally Layton wrote a book describing the Jonestown horror and her escape from it. That’s when i met her

So here now, from 1998, Deborah Layton.

Larry Layton was paroled in 2002 after serving more than 20 years in prison.

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Ed Nixon

September 20, 2023September 17, 2023Bill Thompson

When Edward Nixon was born in 1931, his older brother Richard was already 17. And Ed, along with middle son Don, looked up to their studious and serious big brother.

Ed Worked on his brothers campaigns, but never got further involved in politics, instead choosing what turned out to be a very successful career as a geologist.

After Richard Nixon’s death in 1994, his brothers Don and Ed felt an urgency to write the story they felt needed to be told about the family. But with Don Nixon in failing health himself, the task fell to Ed.

In 2009, he wrote a book called The Nixons: A Family Portrait.

So here now, from 2009, Ed Nixon.

Ed Nixon died in 2019. He was 88.

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David Frost

August 21, 2023August 20, 2023Bill Thompson

David Frost had a successful, decades long career as a television talk show host and interviewer, in both the UK and the US.

He interviewed thousands of VIPs, celebrities, and movers and shakers of all kinds.

But he may be best remembered for his 1977 series of interviews with former President Richard M. Nixon, who just three years earlier had resigned the presidency in disgrace after the Watergate scandal.

Frost paid Nixon some $600,000 for those interviews. But they paid off, big time, as they became a part of American television history, and helped restore some of Nixon’s credibility.

I met David Frost 30 years later, when he wrote a book called Frost/Nixon, a behind the scenes account of how the interviews came about, and what happened when the cameras stopped ruling.

So here now, from 2007, David Frost.

David Frost died in 2013. He was 74.

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Jimmy Buffett

April 21, 2023April 20, 2023Bill Thompson

One night in 1977 in Austin, Texas Jimmy Buffett wrote a song that would go on to define his entire music career.

Today “Margaritaville” is part of our collective pop music consciousness.

“Margaritaville” never was a Billboard #1 hit — the highest it got was #8 — but it has lived on foe decades.

In 1989 Buffett — a big fan of short stories — wrote a whole book of them, calling it Tales From Margaritaville.” And that’s when I had the chance t talk with him.

So here now, from 1989, Jimmy Buffett.

Jimmy Buffett is 76 now. Largely because of Margaritaville” he’s a billionaire.

In addition to his music, he owns the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain.

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Armistead Maupin

June 1, 2022May 29, 2022Bill Thompson

We’re kicking off the start of LGBTQ Pride Month with a conversation with one of the leading literary figures in the gay rights movement of the late 20th century.

Armistead Maupin started writing stories in 1974 that were published in a small newspaper in the San Francisco area. Those serialized stories were known as tales of the City.

Finally, in 1978, Maupin published the first Tales of The City book, the 1st of several in the series.

Drawing on his own experience as a gay man, Maupin’s books feature a broad community of diverse characters and backgrounds.

Importantly, Armistead Maupin was one of the first writers to directly address the AIDS crisis.

I first met him in 1987, but the conversation you’re about to hear is from 13 years later, when we talked about his novel The Night Listener.

So here now, from 2000, Armistead Maupin.

Armistead Maupin celebrated his 78th birthday last month. He lives in New Mexico.

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Gloria Gaynor

April 25, 2022April 24, 2022Bill Thompson

Gloria Gaynor began her professional music career in the early 1960s, when she was barely out of her teens. She was recording by the time she was 22, and had a couple of albums by the time she was 30.

But her songs and albums didn’t really have great success- until 1978, when she went into the studio and recorded a song that became a defining moment in pop music.

“I Will Survive” became a smash Hit, and inspired millions.

But, of course, Gloria Gaynor’s life was more than just one hit song. In her 1997 autobiography, also called. I Will survive, Gaynor told her life’s story, with all of its ups and downs.

So here now, from 1997, my conversation with Gloria Gaynor.

Gloria Gaynor is 78 now. Her most recent album was released in 2019, and won the Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album.