Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso: Pioneers of Mediterranean Flavors/

Hundreds of cookbooks are published every year, thousands have been published since the early 1980s. But few had the impact that 1982’s Silver Palate Cookbook had.

It was the outgrowth of a popular New York City eatery calledTthe Silver Palate, run by Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso.

They helped introduce Americans to Mediterranean and European cuisines never before seen in this country.

Over the next 25 years their cookbook sold millions of copies and became a must have for many kitchens.

In 2007, Lukins and Rosso published a 25th anniversary edition of the cookbook, and that’s when I spoke with them. So here now, from 2007, Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso..

Sheila Lukins died in 2009, at age 66.


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Super Bowl 21 Hero Leonard Marshall Reflects on the Giants’ Disastrous 1987 Season

This Sunday the San Francisco 49ers will meet the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas This will be the Chiefs’ fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years. But big success one year doesn’t necessarily mean the next year will be just as great.

The New York Giants dominated the NFC in 1986, and they won Super Bowl 21 over the Denver Broncos in January 1987.

But the Giants began the 1987 season 0-5, and finished with a 6-9 record, missing the playoffs for the first time in four years.

A key player for the Giants at that time was defensive lineman Leonard Marshall. He had written a book in the offseason, called The End of the Line. I had the chance to talk with him about the book In early December just two days after the Giants lost an embarrassing game to the Washington Redskins. New York had a 16-0 lead at halftime, and lost.

but Marshall was in a surprisingly pleasant mood that day as we talked. So here now,
from 1987, Leonard Marshall.

Leonard Marshall retired at the end of the 1994 season. He’s 62 now and is involved in various business ventures.


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From Pilgrims to Escorts: The Rise and Fall of the Mayflower Madam

As public scandals go, this one might seem pretty benign, by today’s low bar. But in 1984, it was a big story when it was revealed that the authoirities had broken up a high-priced Manhattan escort service that was being run by a woman named Sydney Biddle Barrows.

Now, when a New York Post reporter uncovered the fact that the 32-year-old Barrows is from the Biddle family of Philadelphia, and is a direct descendant of some of the original Mayflower settlers, he dubbed her the “Mayflower Madam” — and the name stuck.

Within two years of her company being put out of business, Barrows wrote a bestselling autobiography, called, of course, “The Mayflower Madam.”

That’s when I first met her.

So here now, from 1986, Mayflower Madam Sydney Biddle Barrows:

Sydney Biddle Barrows is 73 now. She’s a management consultant and writer.


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Wilma Mankiller: A Cherokee Chief’s Journey and Legacy

Wilma Mankiller’s journey into leadership in the Cherokee nation was not planned. She started as an advocate for rural development within her community, gradually rising through the ranks of Cherokee leadership.

In the 1980s she was the first woman elected to Principal Chief.

Her 1993 autobiography, Mankiller, gave her the opportunity to fill a void of knowledge about ANative American history and culture.

Her story, as she recountss in this interview, was not only one of personal resilience but also a testament to the strength of Native American communities.

So here now, from 1993, Wilman Mankiller.

Wilma Mankiller was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in 2022 her likeness appeared on the quarter-dollar coin minted by the U.S. Treasury.

Mankiller died from pancreatic cancer in 2010. She was 64.


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Maureen Reagan

Photo by John Mathew Smith

Born in 1941, Maureen was the eldest child of Reagan and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman.
By her late teens, Maureen was becoming active in politics. She later played roles in her father’s presidential campaigns, and ran for Congress herself.

President Ronald W. Reagan

In 1989, just a few months after Ronald Reagan left office, Maureen wrote an admiring book called First Father, First Daughter. That’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1989, Maureen Reagan.

Maureen Reagan died of cancer in 2001. She was 60.

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Frank Buttino

Even years after the death of iconic FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the agency continued to discriminate against gay agents.

It wasn’t all that very long ago that the FBI was almost exclusively the domain of straight white men.

That is, until an agent named Frank Buttino came along. The FBI fired him after discovering his sexual orientation, but Buttino filed a discrimination lawsuit.

And as a result, the FBI’s homophobic hiring discrimination ended.

I met him in the summer of 1993, while his lawsuit was still pending. He had written his autobiography, a book called A Special Agent .

So here now, from 1993, Frank Buttino.

Frank Buttino died in 2018. He was 73.


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Oliver North

In the 1980s, the presidency of Ronald Reagan was facing two distinct foreign policy challenges.

Members of Hezbollah had taken several Americans hostage in Beirut, Lebanon.

And in Central America, a rebel group known as the Contras was trying to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

To free the hostages, the Reagan administration undertook a secret plan to sell military missiles to Iran, in hopes that the Iranian government would persuade Hezbollah to release the hostages.

In Nicaragua, meanwhile, the U.S. was funding, arming, and training the Contras. That is, until Congress abruptly cut off the entire funding.

Oliver North with Bill Thompson’s daughter Jennifer

That’s when someone had the idea to take the money that Iran was paying secretly for those missiles and hand it secretly to the Contras. The plan became known later as the Iran-Contra affair.

When this plan became public in 1986, Congress was outraged. Hearings into the Iran. Contra affair began 35 years ago this week, May 5th, 1987.

And witness testimony quickly pointed to one man who seemed to have all the answers to the scandal.

Oliver North was on assignment to the National Security Council, and became the central figure in the Iran Contra scandal.

In July 1987, North appeared before I congressional committee, offering testimony that was at once defensive and defiant.

North was convicted on three felony charges but his convictions were vacated, and the criminal case against him was dropped in 1991.

And a short time later, North published a book called Under Fire. And that’s when he and I had the first of what would be several conversations over the next few years.

So here now from 1991 Lr. Col. Oliver North

Oliver North is 78 now. He lives in Virginia, just outside Washington, DC.


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Cliff Stoll

Many people think we’re on the verge of another Cold war, a cyber war, in which skilled hackers will break into systems abroad and wreak havoc with them.

But back in the 1980s, such a concept was still such a novelty that intelligence agencies and police didn’t pay much attention to it.

That is, until 1986, when an astronomer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory made a startling discovery.

Cliff Stoll was a systems administrator at the lab, and noticed an unusual pattern of usage in the lab’s computer network.

In a groundbreaking game of cyber cat and mouse, stole eventually traced the activity back to a KGB recruit in Germany named Markus Hess.

Stoll told the amazing story in his 1989 bestseller The Cuckoo’s Egg. I spoke with him about that book, and again a year later when they paperback version came out.

So here now, from 1990, Cliff Stoll:.

Cliff Stoll will be 72 in June.


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Jose Eber

Do you remember the 1970s TV show Charlie’s Angels? And do you remember one of the stars,Farrah Fawcett and her magnificent iconic hairstyle?

If you do then you know the work of stylist Jose Eber.

During the ’70s and ’80s, Eber established himself as one of the premier hair stylist to the stars.

And today he is known for his luxury salons as well as a line of hair care products.

I met him in 1990 when he published his second book called Beyond Hair.

So here now from 1990 Jose Eber.

Jose Eber is 72 now — and still making women beautiful.


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Judith Belushi

Tomorrow, March 5th, is the 40th anniversary of the untimely deaf of comedian. John Belushi.

Belushi was one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live when it premiered in 1975, and he was the star movies like Animal House and The Blues Brothers.

But John Belushi also had a substance abuse problem, and on March 5th, 1982, he died in a Los Angeles hotel room. A woman named Cathy Smith was accused of administering a fatal speedball to Belushi.

And suddenly, at the age of 31, his high school sweetheart Judy was left a widow.

A few years later, Judith Belushi wrote a memoir of her experience. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1990, Judith Belushi.

Judith Belushi Pisano is 71 now. She and Victor Pisano divorced a couple of years ago.


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