Author: Bill Thompson

Anita Roddick

Bill Thompson

In 1976 a British business woman started a small business to sell skin and hair care products.

But she also wanted it to reflect her ethics and values, including human rights, animal rights, and the environment.

Anita Roddick called her business The Body Shop.

Today The Body Shop has over 3,000 stores in 65 countries. But it is still loyal to Anita Roddick’s ethics and values.

In 2001 Roddick wrote a book called Business As Unusual, a look back at the sometimes-turbulent ‘90s for The Body Shop.

So here now from 2001, Anita Roddick.

Anita Roddick died in 2007. She was 64.

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Marva Collins

Bill Thompson
Photo: Eric Watkins

America’s schools are in crisis right now.

After COVID took its toll, and forced remote learning on millions of kids, school boards all over the country are now dealing with loud, sometimes ferocious, debates over everything from mask mandates to gender pronouns to critical race theory.

But debate over education is nothing new.

A generation ago, a Chicago educator with unusual methods was both widely praised and roundly criticized.

Yet it was hard to argue with the success that Marva Collins had with the students who attended her private inner city elementary school.

I met her some 31 years ago as we have a conversation about the state of education, and her unusual methods.

So here now, from 1990, Marva Collins.

Marva Collins died in 2015. She was 78.

Colin Powell

Bill Thompson

The United States marks Veterans Day tomorrow. And very recently, we lost one of the most revered veterans of modern times.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Colin Powell was a lifelong soldier.

He joined the ROTC while in college in the 1950s, then served two tours of Duty in Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1979 he was promoted to Brigadier General, and by 1989, he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

When George W Bush was elected in 2000, he named Powell his Secretary of State. a post Powell held for Mr. Bush’s first term.

I met Colin Powell in 1996, when he was promoting his autobiography, a book called My American Journey.

So here now, from summer 1996, Colin Powell.

Colin Powell died last month. He was 84.

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Mike Krzyzewski

Bill Thompson

The men’s NCAA college basketball season opens tomorrow. And it will be the final season for one of the game’s winningest and most successful coaches ever.

Mike Krzyzewski, also known as Coach K, has been head coach at Duke University since 1980. He announced last June that he would be retiring after this season.

Under his leadership, the Blue Devils have made it to the Final Four 12 times, and have won five national championships, second only to John Wooden’s ten.

I met Coach K 21 years ago, when he wrote a book on leadership called Leading with the Heart.

So here now, from 2000, Mike Krzyzewski

Mike Krzyzewski is 74 now, and we’ll leave the game as one of its all-time greatest

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Yakov Smirnoff

Bill Thompson

Who knew Russians had such a great sense of humor?

Well, few Americans thought so, until the 1980s, when the young Russian-born Yakov Smirnoff burst onto the scene.

When he arrived here in 1977 from Ukraine, Smirnoff actually spoke no English.

But quickly he was able to turn his foreigner’s naivete into a very successful comedy act.

In 1987, with Smirnoff’s popularity nearing its peak — and just before a visit to the U.S. by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev — Smirnoff went on a book tour to promote a hilarious book he call America on Six Rubles A Day.

So here now, from 1987, Yakov Smirnoff.

Yakov Smirnoff is 70 now. He still performs occasionally at his theater in Branson, Missouri, and tours world wide.

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Beverly Sills

Bill Thompson

Any list of the greatest operatic singers of modern times will include, somewhere near the top, the name Beverly Sills.

The statuesque soprano was an audience favorite for decades. Time Magazine once dubbed her :America’s Queen of Opera.”

By the late ‘60s the singer whose nickname was Bubbles had also become a very popular TV talk show guests.

But she also struggled with personal crises.

Her daughter Muffy was deaf and suffered from multiple sclerosis. Her son Bucky, born two years later, was severely mentally disabled.

In 1988 Sills wrote her autobiography. And that’s when I met Bubbles.

So here now, from 1987, Beverly Sills.

Beverly Sills died in 2007. She was 78. Her daughter Muffy died in 2016, at age 57.

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Linda Greenlaw

Bill Thompson

Thirty years ago today, November 1, 1991, off the New England coast the six-man crew of the sword fishing boat the Andrea Gail were fighting, and losing, their battle with what has come to be known as The Perfect Storm.

A close friend of those six was fellow swordfishing boat captain Linda Greenlaw.

If you’ve seen the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm, Greenlaw was played by actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Greenlaw eventually wrote three books of her own, including a 2004 called All Fishermen Are Liars.

So here now, from 2004, Linda Greenlaw.

Linda Greenlaw will be 61 next month. She is still a sword-fishing boat captain, and lives in Maine.

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William Peter Blatty

Bill Thompson
Photo:Terry Ballard

Back in the 1960s, he had a very successful career writing screenplays for comedies. William Peter Blatty’s credits include movies like A Shot In The Dark, the second movie in the Pink Panther series, and The Man From The Diner’s Club, starring Danny Kaye.

The “Exorcist Stairs” in Georgetown, Washington DC

But of course, Blatty’s most famous and popular work, the one for which he is best remembered today, was his 1971 novel that at first, no one wanted to publish.

It was called The Exorcist. And it has become a classic.

In 2013 I had the chance to spend a few minutes with this very warm, funny, and personable author.

So here now, from 2013, William Peter Blatty.

William Peter Blatty died in 2017, five dayus after his 89th birthday.

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Laura Walker

Bill Thompson

How would it make you feel if you woke up one day and realized your father was a traitor to his country?

Unfortunately that was more than just a rhetorical question for Laura Walker, whose father, John Walker Jr., is considered one of the most notorious and dangerous spies in American history.

By the time he was caught in the mid-1980s John Walker Jr. had been spying for the Soviet Union for over 20 years, even bringing his son Michael into the “Walker family spy ring,” as it became known.

And he tried to recruit his daughter Laura into his spy ring as well, after she joined the military, but it was only after she tipped off authorities that her father and brother were caught.

In 1988 Laura Walker wrote a book about called Daughter of Deceit. That’s when I have a chance to meet her. So here now from 1988, Laura Walker.

John Walker was sentenced 36 years ago this week to life in prison. He died in prison in 2014 at age 77.

Bill Kinison

Bill Thompson

It was an HBO Young Comedians special in late summer 1985 that launched a young comedian to national fame. Sam Kinison became wildly popular almost overnight.

And for the next several years was one of America’s favorite stand-up comedians.

Tragically Sam Kinison’s life ended abruptly in April 1992 in a horrible car crash in California. His brother Bill Kinison was in the car behind him and witness the accident.

Two years later Bill Kinison wrote a book about his little brother call Brother Sam. That’s why I had a chance to meet him/

So here now from 1994 Bill Kinison.

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