Author: Bill Thompson

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Bill Thompson

Happy Presidents Day.

Now, if you’re old enough, as I am, you may remember that this day was traditionally celebrated as Lincoln’s birthday. It was transformed into President’s Day in 1971, as part of the move toward more Monday holidays.

In 2005, noted presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose best selling books included volumes about Lyndon Johnson and John F Kennedy, took on a new subject: Abraham Lincoln.

Struck by the political acumen displayed by this simple country lawyer, Goodman titled her book
Team of Rivals.

So here now, from 2005, Doris Kearns Goodwin:

Erich Segal

Bill Thompson

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend! I thought this would be an appropriate time to bring back an interview with the author of one of the great love stories of our time — Love Story, by Erich Segal.

His book became a huge bestseller in 1970, and even bigger box office movie smash in 1971, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal as the star-crossed lovers.

I met him in 1988, when he published his latest novel, called Doctors. But as you are about to hear, Segal was still both honored and haunted by the success of Love Story.

So here now, from 1988, Erich Segal.

Erich Segal died at age 72, in 2010.

Andrew Young

Bill Thompson

Was the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s a social or political movement? It was, but it was also a religious or spiritual movement, says former Congressman and UN Ambassador Andrew Young.

In a 1994 book called A Way Out of No Way, Young, a confidant of Martin Luther King jr., a former preacher, former Atlanta mayor, told his own story against the backdrop of the movement that he was a key part of.

So here now, from 1994, Andrew Young:

Ambassador Andrew Young will be 89 next month.

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Rosa Parks

Mildred Muhammad

Bill Thompson

For three weeks in October 2002, the Washington DC area was terrorized by a series of sniper attacks. Someone was randomly shooting and killing people throughout the district, and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Piecing together scant eyewitness Clues, police began searching for the gunman, and ultimately found, and arrested, 41 year old John Allen Muhammad and 17 year old Lee Boyd Malvo.

Both were eventually convicted, and John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death.

In the fall of 2009, I met Muhammad’s wife, Mildred. Muhammad had planned to kill her, in a custody dispute over their children, and make her death appear to be one of the series of random sniper killings.

So here now, from 2009, Mildred Muhammad.

John Allen Muhammad was executed just a few weeks after my conversation with Mildred Muhammad. Lee Boyd Malvo is appealing his multiple life sentences without parole, but is likely to spend the rest of his life Behind Bars.

Mildred Muhammad continues to advocate for women in abusive situations.

Bart Starr

Bill Thompson
Bart Starr with Bill Thompson, 1987

The Kansas City Chiefs are meeting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV. The Chiefs were also in the very first Super Bowl, in 1967.

But it was their misfortune that year to be playing the Green Bay Packers, who are led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, as well as MVP of Super Bowl II Ithe following year.

I met Bart Starr in 1987, when he wrote a memoir of not just his years with the Packers, but his college career, his childhood, if you supposed to Green Bay career.

So here now, from 1987, Super Bowl 1 MVP Bart Starr:

Now the NFL hands out the Bart Starr Award, to a player of outstanding character.

Bart Starr died in 2019 at age 85.

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Joe Theismann

Charles Osgood

Bill Thompson
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A few days ago on Now I’ve Heard Everything, I featured an interview that I had done many years ago with one of my broadcasting Heroes, the late Larry King.

Today, another one: longtime CBS radio and TV news personality Charles Osgood.

Osgood grew up in Depression-era, World War ii-era Baltimore. And in 2004, he wrote a memoir recalling those years, called Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack.

So here now, from 2004, Charles Osgood:

Charles Osgood celebrating his 88th birthday last month. Today he lives in the New York City area.

Ronnie Spector

Bill Thompson

They may have called her “the original ‘bad girl of rock and roll’,” but Ronnie Spector was nothing but nice to me, when I met her in 1990.

Spectre was the lead singer in the ’60s girl-group The Ronettes. Their big hit, of couse, was “Be My Baby.” but of course there were others, too.

But Ronnie Spector was also Mrs. Phil Spector. And we get into that a little bit, in this interview.

So here now, from 1990, Ronnie Spector.

Ronnie Spector is 77 now. Her most recent album was released in 2016. She lives in Connectiocut.

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Gladys Knight

Larry King

Bill Thompson

I listened to Larry King on the radio long before I first met him, in 1988. That was actually the first of several interviews I did with King, who passed away the other day at age 87.

Larry King was a legend in radio and television. Whether you like them or not, you had to acknowledge he had Broad and deep influence in broadcasting.

Larry did tens of thousands of interviews over the years, often with VIPs and celebrities who would talk to no one else.

And even though I was still in the “minor leagues” while Larry was a major league all-star, he treated me like we were equal colleagues. That’s one of the things I liked best about him.

So here now, from 1988, Larry King:

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Grace George Corrigan

Bill Thompson

Tomorrow is January 28, and if you are old enough, you undoubtedly have a clear memory of exactly where you were 35 years agp, on January 28, 1986.

That was the day of that horrible tragedy, the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger.

Among the crew members was teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, who had won a nationwide competition to become the first teacher in space.

Watching the liftoff in person that day was Christa McAuliffe’s mother, Grace George Corrigan.

A few years later, Corrigan wrote a book about her daughter, and that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1993, Grace George Corrigan.

Christa’s father died in 1990,

Grce George Corrigan died in 2018 at athe age of 94.

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Chuck Barris

Bill Thompson

Do you remember The Dating Game? Or The Newlywed Game? How about The Gong Show?

They and many other TV game shows were all created by the same man: Chuck Barris. He was the king of game shows for many years until he retired in the 1980s and moved to France.

A few years later, he wrote a memoir called The Game Show King. And that’s when I met him and interviewed him.

So here now, from 1993, Chuck Barris.

Chuck Barris died in 2017. He was 87.

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Alex Trebek