Bill Thompson – Page 7 – Now I've Heard Everything

The Queen of Country: Reba McEntire Reflects on Life and Career

April 10, 2025Bill Thompson

Reba McEntire was just 21 when she recorded her first song in 1976. It would be years before her first #1 record, but since then she’s been pure gold.

75 million records sold, over 100 Billboard singles, including 25 #1s.

As an actress Reba has appeared in several movies, and had her own TV series for six seasons.

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In 1994, when her star was shining bright and had not stopped rising yet, McEntire wrote an autobiography. She called it Reba: My Story.

I met her that spring when she was on a book tour, and had the pleasure of introducing her to my wife and my two daughters that day.

So here now, from 1994, Reba McEntire.

Reba McEntire turned 70 last month. She’s in a relationship with actor Rex Linn, whom she met while filming Young Sheldon.

The NBA’s Chet Walker: A Black Athletes Coming of Age in America

April 6, 2025Bill Thompson

They called him “Chet the Jet.”

Chet Walker was a seven-time NBA All-Star, during a 13 year playing career for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Chicago Bulls.

And that was after a two-time All-American college career at Bradley University in the early 1960s.

But his success was not limited to the court. After his retirement from the NBA in 1975 Walker became an Emmy-winning TV producer,

The Fear Gripping America’s Shrinking Middle Class — An Exploration by Barbara Ehrenreich

April 6, 2025Bill Thompson

The wealth gap between America’s 1% and all the rest of us is wide and getting wider. But it didn’t start with us.

At least, not all of us.

In 1989, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich highlighted the growing struggles of not just the poor, but the middle class. And in particular, the professional middle class, the “white collar” middle class.

What is startling and sobering is that this 36 year old interview foreshadowed so much of what our current economy looks like.

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Get your copy of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book

And of course, in this interview when Barbara Ehrenreich talks about the young people entering the workforce: Gen X, she’s talking about you

Barbara Ehrenreich’s book was called Fear of Falling. I was in my mid-30s when I did this interview and it hit home for me.

So here now, from 1989, Barbara Ehrenreich.

Barbara Ehrenreich died in 2022. She was 81

History With a Comic Touch, As Told by Paula Poundstone

March 31, 2025Bill Thompson

There are many hundreds of thousands of biographies and history books, but probably very very few of them have been written by a comedian.

And, few comedians who write a memoir do so with the help of historical figures.

That’s where the popular stand-up comic Paula Poundstone comes in.

When publishers invited her to write a memoir, she hesitated, until she had a brainstorm.

And the result, in 2006, was her first book, which she called There’s Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say.

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But the road from concept to publication was bumpy. A few years into the writing process she faced legal charges, including felony endangerment of a child.

Get your copy of Paula Poundstone’s book

But instead of abandoning the book Poundstone Incorporated her legal troubles into the narrative.

I met her in the spring of 2007 when she was on a book tour.

So here now, from 2007, Paula Poundstone.

Paula Poundstone is 65 now. She continues to tour the country, and she hosts the podcast “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone.”

A Split Second to Act: Secret Service Agent Dennis McCarthy

March 30, 2025Bill Thompson

Until the attempt on Donald Trump’s life last summer, the most serious assassination attempt in recent American history came on March 30, 1981.

President Ronald Reagan had just emerged from a speech at a downtown Washington hotel. From behind a nearby rope line emerged a young man with a gun. John Hinckley Jr fired six shots, hitting Reagan and three other people before he was subdued.

And the Secret Service agent who subdued him was 46-year-old veteran Agent Dennis McCarthy.

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McCarthy spent the next several hours guarding Hinckley, who was, of course, later found not guilty by reason of insanity. You’ll hear Dennis McCarthy’s take on that in the interview just ahead.

I met agent McCarthy in 1985 when he wrote a book called Protecting The President. And he had a startling Revelation in that book, which you’ll hear about.

So here now, from 1985, Dennis McCarthy.

Dennis McCarthy died in 1993. He was 58.

Batter Up! Columnist George Wills Tribute to The Genius of Baseball

March 26, 2025Bill Thompson

For fans of Major League Baseball tomorrow is the big day, Opening Day. It’s the only day of the season when every team is in first place, every batter is hitting 1.000, and every pitcher has an ERA of 0.00.

A few years back George Will wanted to write a baseball book, in an effort to analyze exactly what makes Major League Baseball such an intriguing sport.

And for his research he went to the experts: Cal Ripken, Orel Hershiser, Tony Gwynn, and Tony La Russa.

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And what Will found was not just a deep well of talent, but extraordinary ability to synthesize mountains of information.

What emerged was George Will’s 1990 book called Men At Work. he and I talked about it just a few weeks into the 1990 Major League season.

So here now, from 1990, George Will.

George Will will be 84 in May. You can read his columns in the Washington Post and see him on NewsNation.

En Pointe Elegance: Ballerina Suzanne Farrell’s Journey of Grace

March 24, 2025Bill Thompson

Few people have done more to advance neoclassical ballet in the last half-century then the girl from Cincinnati who started turning heads when she was a teenager.

Suzanne Farrell’s unique talent brought her to the attention of the legendary George Balanchine, and together they transformed the modern world of ballet.

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Over a career that spanned nearly three decades Farrell set the standard for a generation of dancers.

A hip replacement surgery ended Farrell’s ballet career in 1989. She has devoted her life to teaching since then. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

The year after her retirement she wrote a memoir called Holding On To The Air. I met her that fall when she was on a book tour.

So here now, from 1990, Suzanne Farrell.

Suzanne Farrell is now 79. She is a professor of dance at Florida State University.

Caught in The Cogs of The Washington Political Machine: Former Speechwriter Matt Latimer

March 21, 2025Bill Thompson

Perhaps no job in Corporate America could ever fully prepare you for a job with the federal government.

Or more particularly, the United States Senate, or the Pentagon, or the white house.

Someone who worked in all three of those venues in the early 2000s will tell you, it’s not just a different world, it’s a different Universe.

Matt Latimer started his Washington career working in the US Senate – at one point working alongside Ann Coulter – before taking a job at the Pentagon as a speechwriter for then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

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Latimer joined the White House in 2007 as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, a position he held until resigning a year and a half later. disillusioned with how the president and his advisors handled the financial crisis.

A year later, Latimer wrote a memoir he called Speech-less. He and I met one day that fall in the cafe at our local Borders bookstore to talk about it.

So here now, from 2009, Matt Latimer.

Matt Latimer now heads a literary and public relations firm he co-founded in Northern Virginia.

Forever Liesl — Charmian Carr’s Lifetime of Memories On The Set of ‘The Sound of Music’

March 20, 2025Bill Thompson

The beloved classic “The Sound of Music” premiered 60 years ago this month, March 1965.

It was an instant hit, drawing huge crowds, many who would come back and see the movie multiple times. It has remained one of the all-time favorite movies of audiences worldwide in the decades since.

The young actress who portrayed the eldest Von Trapp child, 16-year-old Liesl, was then-21-year-old Charmian Carr; it was, in fact, her very first movie role..

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And in the interview you’re about to hear car describes the very first scene she shot in her very first movie.

In 2000 Car published her memoir, a book called Forever Liesl. That’s when I had the chance to meet her.

So here now, from 2000, Charmian Carr.

Charmian Carr died in 2016. She was 73.