Michael Crichton

Bill Thompson
Jon Chase photo/Harvard News Office

He earned a medical degree from Harvard, but instead of pursuing a career in medicine, Michael Crichton became a writer.

And as a reader, I’m really glad he did.

I had read some of Michael Crichton’s books, and enjoyed the movie “The Andromeda Strain,” that was based on one of them, but I had never interviewed him, until November 1990 when “Jurassic Park” was published.

“Jurassic Park:” the movie was released in 1993, starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum.

So here now, from 1990, Michael Crichton.

Michael Crichton died in 2008 at age 66.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

William Peter Blatty
James Patterson

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Mary Beth Whitehead

Bill Thompson

Surrogate parenting has become commonplace in America and other countries. It has helped countless numbers of couples become parents.

But it took until the late 1980s for an American Court to rule on the legal validity of surrogate motherhood.

It came in the case of an infant girl dubbed Baby M.

A woman named Mary Beth Whitehead gave birth to baby M, after her eggs were fertilized by a man named Bill Stern. He and his wife Elizabeth for unable to have a child of their own.

The trouble arose when Whitehead, after giving birth, decided she wanted to keep the baby.

A protracted court battle ensued, and ultimately the Sterns won custody of the baby.

Whitehead wrote a book in 1989, telling her side of the story. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1989, Mary Beth Whitehead;

In 2004, Baby M, Melissa Stern, turned 18 and legally terminated Marybeth whiteheads parental rights.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

Jan & Robby DeBoer

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Carl Sagan

Bill Thompson

You know we sometimes get so caught up in the minutiae of everyday life. Trying to protect our own little turf on this little planet that we lose sight of the big picture. I mean the really big picture.

In the 1970s and ’80s astronomer. Carl Sagan led the way in showing us the big picture with his book and TV show. Cosmos and then in 1994 his follow-up book called pale Blue.

The interview you’re about to hear was actually the second interview I had with Carl Sagan in the early ’90s and I found it hard to be in the same room with him and and not be swept up in his enthusiastic and voracious quest for more knowledge.

And as I was preparing the interview for use on this podcast, I thought how absolutely thrilled Carl Sagan would be today to learn about the James Webb telescope.

So here now from 1994 Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan died in 1996. He was 62.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

Neil de Greasse Tyson

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Judy Collins

Bill Thompson

Songs recorded by Judy Collins have become some of America’s most enduring favorites.

With a debut album in 1961 at a debut concert about a year later and then a number one single shortly after Judy Collins became a fixture in American music, particularly the folk music genre.

But with a musical upbringing that included everything from classical to country to folk to pop. Judy Collins resisted labels

She in fact learned to trust her heart. That’s why she called her 1987 autobiography. Trust Your Heart and that’s when I had the chance to meet her.

So here now. From 1987. Judy Collins

Judy Collins is now 82. She lives in New York.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

Janis Ian
Pete Seeger

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

William Shatner

Bill Thompson

Back in the fall of 1993, when I had scheduled an interview with actor. William shatner, it was fascinating to watch the generational divide in the office where I worked.

When he walked in, the oldest among us could be heard saying Captain Kirk is here!

The next oldest we’re saying TJ hooker is here!

And the youngest, at that point in the early ’90s, we’re saying the guy from rescue 911 is here!

William Shatner has undoubtedly been one of the most durable actors of our time, appealing across generations and across genres.

But to most, he is still most commonly remembered as captain James t. Kirk of The starship Enterprise. You remember, that 5-year mission to explore new worlds, that ended up only lasting three seasons?

By the time Shatner published his book Star Trek Memories in the Fall of 93. He had learned that not all of his Star Trek co-stars regarded him so very highly after all. As you’re about to hear.

So here now from 1993 William Shatner:

William Shatner is 90 now and os still acting.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

Leonard Nimoy
George Takei

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Cleveland Amory

Bill Thompson

It was on a cold Christmas Eve night many years ago in New York that a stray cat found a new, loving home.

His rescuer was I then crusty 60 year old curmudgeon, an author and TV and radio critic named Cleveland Amory.

Well, Amory named his new furry white companion PPolar Bear. And in 1987, when Amory wrote a book called The Cat Who Came For Christmas, Polar Bear became a celebrity.

This was my first interview with Cleveland Amory, but it was not the last. We talked several times over the next few years.

So here now, from 1987, Cleveland

Cleveland Amory died in 1998. He was 81.

Wally Amos

Bill Thompson

What would you do if a big corporation took over the company you built, then told you you had no more right to use your own name to sell the product you invented?

Welcome to Wally Amos’s world.

The founder of Famous Amos Cookies eventually lost the company. And then he lost the right to use his own name to sell cookies.

But the Florida native with the irrepressible sense of humor and enthusiasm turn the situation around. Eventually.

He wrote about it in a 1994 book that he called Man With No Name.

So here now, from 1994, Wally ‘Famous’ Amos.

Wally Amos is 85 now. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina, where he works on Aunt Della’s Cookies.
Publications

Sophy Burnham

Bill Thompson

Do you believe in angels?

Does each of us have a guardian angel? What do angels really look like? Can they perform miracles?

Some thirty years ago a Washington DC-based author and psychic medium named Sophy Burnham wrote a book that became a major bestseller.

It was called A Book of Angels.

And that’s when Sophie and I had the first of our several conversations over the next few years.

And if you don’t believe in angels now, perhaps you will a few minutes from now.

So here now, from 1990, Sophie Burnham.

Deborah Norville

Bill Thompson
Photo: Stuart Ramson/InsiderImages for Scholastic

Have you counted your blessings today?

If you haven’t, maybe you should. It might be good for your health.

So says TV journalist. Deborah Norville.

In 2007, the anchor of inside edition wrote a book about gratitude, thankfulness, and how that can actually change. Not just your attitude, but you’re very health.

I have the chance to speak with her for a few minutes about that book. So here now, from 2007, Deborah Norville.

Deborah Norville is 63. She’s been anchor of TV’s “Inside Edition” since 1995

Dick Butkus

Bill Thompson
Photo by Alan Light

The national football League is over 100 years old, and in that time, football fans have enjoyed some breathtaking games, spectacular plays, some of the most colorful athletes we’ve ever known, and more than a few moments of spectator sport agony.

In 1994, The NFL participated in publishing a huge coffee table book reflecting on the first 75 years of the league. And to write the forward to that book, they chose legendary Chicago bears, middle linebacker Dick Butkus.

Now I grew up in the Chicago area, so I knew the name Dick butkus very well — and his reputation. An opponent once said that when he was tackling you, Dick Butkus was aiming not to put you in the hospital but the cemetery.

But when I met him to talk about that book, I found him to be a very warm and personable guy with lots of fun stories.

So here now, from 1994, Dick Butkus

Dick Butkus celebrated his 79th birthday last week. He’s active in several charities through the Butkus Foundation.