Now I've Heard Everything – Vintage Interviews With Notable People

Being an LGBTQ MVP in MLB: Billy Bean and His Groundbreaking Career

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Billy Bean was an outfielder. Between 1987 and 1995 being played for the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the San Diego Padres.

Billy was a good player but an average player – not a superstar. He bounced back and forth between the majors and minors.

But it was after his retirement from baseball that Billy Bean may have made his greatest contribution to the game, and to society. Almost 4 years after leaving the game, Bean came out as gay, only the second former major Leaguer to do so.

He quickly became an icon in the LGBTQ community, and by 2014 was named MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion. Within 2 years he was MLB senior vice president for diversity equity and inclusion.

I met Billy Bean in 2003 when he wrote a memoir called Going the Other Way. It was a very candid exploration of how a gay man fits into major professional sports.

So here now from 2003 Billy Bean.

Billy Bean died in 2024 from leukemia. He was 60.

Terri Irwin’s Life With Steve Irwin — And The World’s Most Exotic Wildlife

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Perhaps no person in modern times has purposely sought out the world’s most exotic – and dangerous – wildlife quite like Australia’s Steve Irwin, also known as the Crocodile Hunter.

Whether it was crocodiles, venomous snakes, lions or elephants, Irwin wanted close encounters.

His companion on many of his “meet-and-greets” was his wife Terri. More than just spouses, they were partners as ambassadors to the animal kingdom.

But of course, as we know, in 2006 a stingray brought a sudden and tragic end to Steve’s life when he was just 44.

The following year Terri Irwin published a memoir, celebrating her and Steve’s life together. The book was called Steve And Me, and when Terri went on a book tour to promote it I had a chance to sit down for a few minutes with her

So here now, from 2007, Terri Irwin.

Terri Irwin is 60 now. She’s a naturalized Australian citizen, and along with the couple’s two children still operate Australia Zoo.

Sly Stallone’s Mom, The Celebrity Astrologer: Jacqueline Stallone

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Jacqueline Stallone– often just called “Jackie” – Was the mother of Sylvester Stallone and Frank Stallone.

But during her long life Jackie was much more than just another celebrity mom.

As a young woman, for example, she was once a trapeze artist, and a chorus girl. Later she was a hairdresser, a local TV personality, and founder of an all-female gym.

Jackie also became interested in astrology in the 1950s, and by the 1980s had established a reputation as a celebrity astrologer. She even ran a psychic hotline.

In 1989 Jacqueline Stallone wrote a book for a general readership, on using the stars to optimize our personal power. She called the book Star Power. She and I had a conversation about it while she was on a book tour.

So here now, from 1989, Jacqueline Stallone.

Jacqueline Stallone died in 2020 at age 98.

Sports, Marriage & Parenthood: The Life of ESPN’s Mike Greenberg

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

In the popular TV sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” the character Ray Barone was a popular and very successful sports writer. But at home his wife thought he was an idiot.

Now let’s turn the channel back to real life. Mike Greenberg is a popular and very successful sportscaster on ESPN and ABC. But according to his 2006 book his wife thinks he’s an idiot.

Actually his book was called Why My Wife Thinks I’m An Idiot. It was his first book, and one of his most popular, Perhaps because it is not only about sports, buts about the challenges of being a spouse and a parent.

As one review at the time noted, Greenberg’s was a book about a man tryling to grow up before his children do.

We both had a great time doing this interview in the spring of 2006.

So here now, from 2006, Mike Greenberg.

Mike Greenberg will be 58 later this summer. You can hear him on his podcast #Greeny.

Theodore Hesburgh: A Legacy of Leadership, Faith, and Service

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Not many six year olds know what they want to be when they grow up.
I mean really know what they want to be.

Llittle Teddy was one of those.

The young Theodore Hesbergh knew from the age of six that he wanted to be a priest.

He probably didn’t realize that someday he would also be the renowned, honored, and
revered president of one of the most honored institutions of higher learning in America,
Notre Dame University.

Get your copy of Theodore Hesburgh’s book

But Hesbergh achieved those dreams and more. In 1952, he became president of Notre Dame, a position he held for 35 years, including through the turbulent 1960s when college campuses across America were
roiled by controversy, protests, demonstrations, and student takeovers.

How did Father Hesbergh handle that? You’ll hear that in this interview coming up.

Finally, after his retirement in 1987, Hesbergh was persuaded to write his memoir. In 1990, he did. He called it God, Country, Notre Dame.

Finally, after his retirement in 1987, Theodore Hesbergh wrote a memoir.
His autobiography. in 1990,he published his book God, Country, Notre Dame.”

And when he was on the book tour to promote it, that’s when I had the chance to sit down for a few minutes
with his illustrious and much-honored leader—————————————————————

So here now, from 1990, Father

Theodor Hesbergh died in 2015 at age 97.

Gail Sheehy’s Legacy: Redefining Second Adulthood for Women

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Millions of Gen X and Baby Boomer women know something their mothers didn’t – or, at least, wouldn’t acknowledge.

And that is that women over 40 do not lose their sexual appetite. In fact, quite the contrary.

In 1976 Gail Sheehy wrote a powerful book that really redefined the stages of life we all go through. That book was called Passages, and it introduced us to the term “second adulthood.”

Thirty years later, in 2006, Sheehy showed us what one aspect of a second adulthood looks like for women. She called her book Sex And The Seasoned Woman.

Drawing on the same interviewing technique that made her famous, Sheehy uncovered the secret that was right there before our eyes the whole time: that older women still enjoy the same pleasures they enjoyed in their 20s.

But no, you won’t hear the word “cougar” anywhere in this interview.

So here now, from 2006, Gail Sheehy.

Gail Sheehy died in 2020. She was 83.

A Complicated Leader in a Tumultuous War: South Vietnam’s Nguyen Cao Ky

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

April 30 is the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Effectively ending the Vietnam War and bringing a humiliating end to the American effort to prop up South Vietnam’s government.

An eyewitness to the events that day was a man who had also been a pivotal figure in trying to preserve South Vietnam, former Premier and former vice president Nguyen Cao Ky.

Ky Was head of South Vietnam’s Air Force but had
virtually no government experience when he was thrust into a leadership role in the mid-1960s.

Nguyen Cao Ky proved a complicated, controversial and flamboyant leader who frequently alienated his American allies.

In 2002 Ky wrote in Memoir, one of the only books detailing the war from the South Vietnamese perspective. He called the book Buddha’s Child, and that’s when I had the chance to spend a few minutes with him.

Nguyen Cao Ky died in 2010 at age 80.

Ben, Jerry & Chico: The Friendship Behind the Ice Cream

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

A few years ago two guys started a small business in an abandoned gas station in Burlington, Vermont. And they built it into one of the world’s best-known and most successful businesses.

Their names were Ben and Jerry. They made ice cream. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?

One of their customers when it was still just a little business in Burlington was A guy who owned a bar in town. His name was Fred Lager, but everybody calls him Chico.

Fred, Ben, and Jerry became good friends, and in 1982 Fred Lager joined the young company as its general manager and CFO. It was in that role that he helped build Ben & Jerry’s, the brand.

In 1988 he became president and CEO.

And in 1994, Chico Lager wrote a book about the Ben & Jerry’s experience. He called it Ben & Jerry’s: The Inside Scoop. It was part memoir, part business how-to, and a lot of social responsibility.

So here now, from 1994, Fred “Chico” Lager.

The Man Behind Newport Jazz: A Conversation With eorge Wein

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

In 1954 a young man from Boston took his passion for jazz and turned it into an American tradition.

1954 was the year 29-year-old George Wein organized the first Newport Jazz Festival, an achievement that launched a decades-long career of promoting – and helping shape – American jazz.

He later helped establish the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Newport Folk Festival.

His long career Wein met, worked with, and helped advance the careers of many of the most revered jazz artists of the 20th century.

And he introduced jazz to millions around the world.

In 2003 Wein – who was then 78 – wrote his memoir, called Myself Among Others. That’s when I had a few minutes with this music legend.

So here now, from 2003, George Wein.

George Wein died in 2021 at age 95.

The Timeless Quest to Understand Love: Diane Ackerma’s Masterpiece

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Women and men of all ages and all cultures and all backgrounds in all societies have tried for all time to define love.

… and to study and deconstruct and analyze love.

Great artists, writers, poets, musicians, playwrights, and authors have all had their say.

And in 1994, acclaimed author poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman had hers.

More below video:

She followed up her best-selling book A Natural History of The Senses with a book called A Natural History of Love.

But that was much more than just a literary effort, as Ackerman brought together science and religion and culture.

And what did she conclude? You’re about to hear it. So here now, from 1994, Diane Ackerman.

Diane Ackerman is 76 now. She lives in Ithaca, New York.