Author: Bill Thompson

Bobby Knight’s Story of Success and Controversy

Bill Thompson

The march toward March Madness begins today. The NCAA men’s basketball season is getting underway.

For many seasons, one of the nations most dominant basketball programs could be found at Indiana University, the team coached by the legendary Bobby knight.

Eleven times his teams won the big 10 championship. Three of his teams won the national championship, and one captured the NIT.

After he was fired by Indiana in 2000, Knight took over as head coach at Texas Tech in 2001, taking his team to the postseason in each of his first Four years there.

But night was also a volatile personality. And a 1986 bestselling book by writer John Feinstein helped cement Knight’s reputation as something of a hot head.

I met Bobby Knight in the spring of 2002, as his first year at Texas Tech was drawing to a close. We talked about his autobiography, a book called Knight: My Story.

So here now from 2002, Bobby Knight.

Bobby Knight died last week. He was 83.

You may also like these episodes:


Mike Krzyzewski

Dean Smith

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Author Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ Insights

Bill Thompson
Photo by Gage Skidmore

(Originally posted here in 2020)

When I was a kid, all my friends and I were into The Twilight Zone, the Rod Serling TV series.

But in the later 2000s, another “twilight” captured the world’s imagination: the “Twilight” series of novels by Stephenie Meyer.

Four, in all, chronicling the stories of teenager Bella, vampire Edward. and werewolf Jacob.

The third book in the series, “Eclipse,” was published in 2007. And that’s when I met the author — who, as you’ll hear, was still getting accustomed to the fact she had become more popular, book-sales-wise, than J.K. Rowling.

Here now, from 2007, Stephenie Meyer.

Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books have been turned into popular movies. And her books continue to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide.

You may also like these episodes:


Anne Rice

Isaac Asimov

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Why ‘South Beach Diet’ Dr. A/rthur Agatston Is Concerned

Bill Thompson

If you’re trying to watch your weight, I don’t have to tell you that diet books come and go. Fad diets are a dime a dozen.

But about 20 years ago a new diet book appeared and has had incredible staying power. It was called the South Beach Diet, the creation of acclaimed cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston.

With its emphasis on limiting fat and carbs, and on adding more dietary fiber, the South Beach Diet has demonstrated its popularity.

Yet by 2011, Dr. Agatston was still worried about how well the American people were doing. That’s when he wrote a book called The South Beach Wake-Up Call, and that’s when I spoke with him.

So here now, from 2011. Dr. Arthur Agatston.

Dr. Arthur Agatston Is medical director of wellness and prevention at Baptist Health South Florida. He practices at South Beach Preventive Cardiology.

You may also like these episodes:


Jenny Craig

Tamilee Webb

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Ghosts, Zombies, and Vampires — Why We Love ‘Em

Bill Thompson

Do you like being scared? That Is, do you enjoy horror movies, scary books, thriller TV shows?

What is it about the thrill of fear that we enjoy?

A few years ago, an English professor named Walter Kendrick decided to investigate. He wanted to know why, over the last couple of centuries, our taste in entertainment had taken a dark turn

The result was his 1991 book called The Thrill of Fear. And if you are a fan of ghosts, ghouls, zombies, and vampires, stick with us.

I spoke with him a couple of days before Halloween in 1991. So here now, from 1991, Walter Kendrick.

You may also like these episodes:


William Peter Blatty

Lorraine Warren

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Peggielene Bartels: The Woman Who Became A King

Bill Thompson

When you were a kid, did you ever have that fantasy that you were actually a prince or princess but nobody knew it?

In 2008, a telephone call to a woman who is a secretary living in suburban Washington. DC brought that fantasy to reality for her.

Her name is Peggielene Bartels, and in 2008 when her uncle passed away, she was notified that she had been chosen as the new king of the town of Otuam in her native Ghana.

Suddenly facing a dizzying array of new responsibilities, King Peggy, as she became known, embraced the new role and assumed leadership of her community.

In 2012 she told her story in a book called King Peggy and that’s when I had the chance to meet her. So here now from 2012. King Peggy.

King Peggy still works at the embassy of Ghana in Washington, and still lives in the suburbs. She is 70.

You may also like these episodes:


Wangari Maathai

Wilma Mankiller

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

How We Misunderstand And Undervalue The Human Breast

Bill Thompson

The popular actress Suzanne Somers recently became the latest high profile victim of breast cancer.

The CDC estimates that 42,000 women will die from the disease this year. So will a few hundred men.

October is, of course, Breast Cancer Awareness month. But a book that was written several years ago reminds us of how little we actually know about the human breast.

In 2012, acclaimed author and journalist Florence Williams researched and wrote a definitive volume called Breasts. A Natural And Unnatural History

And you’re going to be startled by how much we don’t know about the human breast.

So here now from 2012. Florence Williams

You may also like these episodes:


Lynn Redgrave

Jackie Collins

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Red Auerbach Reveals Secrets of Building a Celtics Dynasty

Bill Thompson
Photo by Steve Lipofsky Basketballphoto.com}

Perhaps no one in modern North American sports history was as successful at building a dynasty as the legendary Red Auerbach.

First as head coach, then as president and general manager of the Boston Celtics, Auerbach racked up16 championships over a 29-year span.

A brilliant strategist on the court, Auerbach was just as brilliant in the front office as he built a franchise that not only attracted and kept the top talent in the league, but also attracted and kept millions of fans all over the world.

In 1991 Auerbach wrote a book called MBA: Management by Auerbach. And that’s when I had a few minutes with the man. So here now from 1991 Red Auerbach.

Red Auerbach died in 2006, at age 89.

You may also like these episodes:


Wilt Chamberlain

Walt Frazier

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Ariel Sharon And The Burden of Leadership

Bill Thompson

Israel and Hamas are at war. It’s the latest chapter in a long history of cconflict and struggle for the Jewish state

One who participated in many of those struggles and conflicts was Ariel Sharon.

I met him in the fall of 1989, when he published his autobiography, called Warrior.
So here now, from 1989, Ariel Sharon.

He was there in 1948 at the formation of the Israeli army,and rose steadily in the ranks in the years that followed.

Among the battles he saw: the 1956 Suez Crisis, the 1967 Six-Day War, the War of Attrition, and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973.

In the 1982 Lebanon War Sharon was Israel’s Minister of Defense.

And he served as prime minister of Israel from 2001 to 2006

Ariel Sharon died in 2014 just days before his 86th birthday.

You may also like these episodes:


Colin Powell

Leah Rabin

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

From the White House to the Teenage House: Liz Carpenter’s Unplanned Parenthood

Bill Thompson
Jenkins Garrett with Liz Carpenter in UTA Library’s Special Collections, 1987

Imagine this scenario: you have lived a full life as a war correspondent, an aide to a president, a press secretary to a First Lady, and a leader in important social movements.

And just as you have retired to what should have been a comfortable life you are suddenly thrust into being a parent again.

That is what really happened to Liz Carpenter, once a key figure in the Lyndon Johnson administration in the 1960s.

But when her brother died in 1993, his three unruly teenagers came to live with Liz Carpenter. And she found herself, at age 73, a mother once again.

In her 1994 book Unplanned Parenthood Carpenter describes the unique challenges she faced. But she also had some wise and insightful thoughts about those Generation X people she was raising, and their peers.

So here now, from 1994, Liz Carpenter.

Liz Carpenter died in 2010. She was 89.

You may also like these episodes:


Benjamin Spock

Betty Friedan

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Leslie Nielsen: The Doctor of Comedy Who Made “Airplane!” Fly

Bill Thompson

Do you remember the very first time you saw the movie “Airplane”?

Even if you have never seen it, however, everyone knows its most famous lines.

At the time the movie was released in 1980, Leslie Nielsen had already been an established dramatic actor for decades.

But “Airplane” literally changed the entire course of his career, propelling him into comedy. The television series “Police Squad” was followed by the movie “Naked Gun”| and its sequels.

And by 1993, Nielsen had a book called Leslie Nielsen’s The Naked Truth. And that’s when I first met him.

So here now, from 19933, Leslie Nielsen:

Leslie Nielsen died in 2010. He was 84.

You may also like these episodes:


Carl Reiner

Mel Blanc

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.