La Toya Jackson

Bill Thompson
Photo: Greg Hernandez

She was born into what would become one of America’s most famous music families.

La Toya Jackson is the fifth, and middle, child in the Jackson family. Less well-known than the Jackson Five or little brother Michael, La Toya carved out her own place in pop culture, as a singer and songwriter.

But little by little America learned about the private side of the Jackson family, the side the fan magazines didn’t want to write about. It was a a story of domestic abuse.

I met La Toya in 1992, after her bestselling memoir “La Toya” was published.

So here now, from 1992, La Toya Jackson.

La Toya Jackson will be 65 later this month. Her last music release was an EP album in 2011.

Chuck Yeager

Bill Thompson

He was a farm boy from Hamlin, West Virginia. Chuck Yeager join the Army at the outset of World War II, Have it wasn’t long before he became a fighter pilot.

Two years after the war ended, in 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first test pilot to break the sound barrier.

He rose through the ranks to become a general, before retiring.

By the time I met him in the fall of 1988, Yeager was still finding new adventures. He and his longtime friend Bud Anderson co-wrote a book about their adventures hiking in the High Sierras.

So here now, from 1988, Chuck Yeager and Bud Anderson:

Chuck Yeager died last December. He was 97,

Ron Luciano

Bill Thompson

They say baseball is a funny game. No, really, it’s a funny game full of funny characters.

In the 1980s, one of the best chroniclers of those characters was former Major League umpire Ron Luciano.

Luciano umpired in the American League from 1969 to 1979. And along the way, he collected hundreds of stories about some of the most colorful characters in Major League Baseball, past and present.

I met Ron Luciano in 1989, as we talked about his book Remembrance of Swings Past.

So here now, from 1989, Ron Luciano.

Ron Luciano died in 1995. He was 57 years old.

Betty Mahmoody

Bill Thompson

Happy Mothers Day weekend to all the moms listening right now.

Today, the story of one exceptionally courageous mom.

Her name is Betty Mahmoody. In the mid-1980s she accompanied her her iranian-born husband back to his native country for what she thought would be a two-week vacation.

But instead of returning to the US, her husband informed her that they would be living permanently in Iran. And that was just the beginning of the ordeal for her and the couple’s four-year-old daughter Mahtob.

Betty Mahmoody tells the story of what happened over the next 18 months in her best-selling book Not Without My Daughter. Her book was later made into a major Motion Picture starring Sally Field as Betty Mahmoody.

So here now, from 1988, Betty Mahmoody…

Betty Mahmoody will be 76 next month. She is President and co-founder of One World: For Children.

Her daughter In 2015, Mahtob Mahmoody wrote her own book about her and her mother’s escape from Iran.

Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar

Bill Thompson

For seven years, the Duggar family captivated American TV viewers, with their reality show “17 Kids and Counting” — which was later renamed “18 Kids and Counting” and ultimately “19 Kids and Counting.:

Michelle and Jim Bob and their multitude of offspring stood for solid Christian family values.

But, as you know by, eldest child, 33-year-old Josh, has been charged With ossessinon of child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty.

I met the Duggar parents ten years ago when they published their second book, when their TV show was at its peak of popularity.

So here now, from 2011, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar:

On April 30th. Jim Bob Duggar posted a statement on the Duggar family website, saying, in part: .

“It is our prayer that the truth, no matter what it is, will come to light, and that this will all be resolved in a timely manner. We love Josh and Anna and continue to pray for their family.”

Lewis Black

Bill Thompson
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Lewis Black makes us laugh by being the angry man.

The perpetually irritated Lewis Black wrote a book in 2005, a semi-autobiographical account but he called Nothing’s Sacred.

And that;s when I met him.

But instead of an “angry ma,” I found a gentle, warm, and very likeable man, who was eager to talk about seriouos things as well as comedy shtick.

So here now, from 2005, Lewis Black.

Lewis Black will be 73 this summer. He lives in New York and North Carolina.

Peter Funt

Bill Thompson

When I was a kid one of the TV shows I most look forward to every week was the Sunday night episode of “Candid Camera.”

With hidden cameras set up to catch their reactions, host Allen Funt played benign but often ingenius practical jokes on ordinary people. “Candid Camera” was a TV hit for years.

After Funt’s death in 1999 at aged 84, his son Peter Funt took over the family business, as it were, and carried on the “Candid Camera” franchise.

Allen Funt Photo: ABC Television

In 2013, he published a collection of his essays, and that’s when I had the chance to speak with him — and to get some inside scoop on “Candid Camera.”

So here now, from 2013, Peter Funt

Peter Funt is 74.

He writes a syndicated column and speaks to business organizations, often using clips from “Candid Camera” in his presentations.

Gloria Allred

Bill Thompson

She is one of America’s most high-profile lawyers.

In a career that began in the 1970s, Gloria Allred has become especially known for taking on cases involving sexual harassment and women’s rights, especially in the workplace.

In 2006, she looked back on her career in a book that she admits may be the closest she will ever come to writing a full-fledged autobiography.

So here now, from 2006 Gloria Allred:

Gloria Allred will be 80 in July. And still practices law.

Gene Klein

Bill Thompson

In the early 1960s, the San Diego Chargers were a powerhouse in the American Football League.

In 1966, the franchise was purchased by a very successful California businessman named Gene Klein. He paid the them-princely sum of 10 million dollars.

But after running the team for 18 years, Klein solded in 1984.

And a couple of years later he wrote a book about his experience, which he called First Down And a Billion. And that’s when I met him.

I interviewed him just five days before Super Bowl XXI, so be sure and listen to the end to find out what his prediction was. And how accurate he was.

So here now, from January 1987, Gene Klein.

Gene Klein died in 1990, at the age of 69.

Martha Stewart

Bill Thompson
Photo: Gage Skidmore

Well, in most of the U.S. warm spring weather is here. And for many of us, that’s an inspiration to get
outside work in the garden.

And it reminded me that in the late fall of 1991, I had the first of several interviews I’ve done with Martha Stewart, the well known master of all things domestic.

People often ask me, when they find out I have interviewed her if she was rude or condescending or otherwise difficult. And I always say, no, Martha Stewart was always kind and pleasant to me.

Now, one more thing you should know. This interview is all about gardening. It would be many years before Stewart’s legal troubles emerged, so that topic never even comes up here.

So here now, from 1991, Martha Stewart.

Martha Stewart will be 80 this summer. She is chairwoman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia