Now I've Heard Everything

A lot of people say that is the voice of an It's actually the voice of young Welsh soprano Charlotte Church. And when I say young, I mean Young. Charlotte got a record contract when she was just 11. By age 13 she was, literally, world-famous. I met her when she was a grizzled old veteran of 15, in 2001.  She had writen a book called voice of an angel, with the subtitle, my life so far. 

Name a famous serial killer.  There's a good chance that one of the first names that came to your mind was Ted Bundy. Over a period of years, mostly in the 1970's, Ted Bundy killed at least 30 people that we know of, but probably more. Finally, in 1979, the charismatic 33-year-old was caught, tried, and convicted in Florida. He spent the next eight years in prison, as appeal after appeal went...

In 1969, shortly after he graduated from college, Thomas Boswell joined the staff of the Washington Post. Over the next 15 years he honed his craft as a sportswriter, eventually earning his own column in the post in 1984. What Boswell brought to his columns was more than just an account of balls and Strikes, touchdowns and field goals, holes-in-one or hat-tricks. He brought a literary sensibility,...

As a Young Man, Robert Evans wasn't even in Show Business. Then one day, just like something out of a storybook, actress Norma Sherer spot of him and thought he would be great to be in a movie. The rest, as they say, well,... From an acting career, Evans became a movie producer. And in the60s and 70s some of his movies are now Classics. Movies like Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and C...

When you think of the best of Motown in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, one of the names that has to be near the top of the list it Martha and the Behind lead singer Martha Reeves, they racked up a series of hit singles. Finally, 30 years after their heyday, Martha Reeves wrote a memoir. And that's when I met her.

A dog may be man's best friend, but many of us unconsciously do things that can undermine that relationship, says Cesar Millan, otherwise known as The Dog Whisperer. When I met him a 2006, his show was just nicely taking off, he had a large following, and was so very eager to talk about the dogs he had known. 

Doing a 13-year career at PepsiCo, including six years as its president, John Scully prove to be something of a marketing genius. If you’ve ever seen The Pepsi Challenge, well .. that was John Sculley’s idea. Then he made the switch from selling flavored sugar carbonated water to selling personal computers. In 1983 Scully became CEO of Apple.  And soon, behind his marketig skills, Apple had r...

The covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics get underway today. We'll seen enougbh know who the next athletic heroes will be. Throughout the 1980s and into the ‘90s, one of the world's dominant sprinters and long jumpers with Carl Lewis. In addition to several world championships, Lewis won gold Olympic gold medals in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996. Sports Illustrated once named him “Olympian Of Tje Century.”  ...

In November 1980, after serving just one term as President, Jimmy Carter was voted out of office.  The following January he and First Lady Rosalynn Carter moved back to their hometown of Plains, Georgia. But they didn't simply settle into a quiet life of retirement and leisure. Quite the opposite. Just a few years later, in 1987, the two of them wrote a book called Everything to Gain. Their a...

Fifty-two years ago this week the world watched in fascination, as Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on the surface of the moon. As they were planting their footprints on the moon, orbiting above it was the third member of the history-making crew, Michael Collins.  After all, someone had to stay in the car with the motor running whil...

Ginger Rogers is one of those Hollywood figures who transcended mere stardom, and became a cultural icon. In the 1930s she and her dance partner Fred Astaire dominated American film. Her talent was apparent early on. At age 14, she wanted Charleston dance contest.   And before long she was in vaudeville, then Broadway, and finally the movies. And then RKO Pictures paired her with Fred Astaire...

It takes a certain kind of man to be a successful u.s. Marine drill instructor. It seems to come naturally to some men.  And one of them turned it into a successful acting career.  R. Lee Ermey was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the 1987 film "Full Metal Jacket." He went on to play tough, rugged authority figures in a number of oher movies -- even “Toy Story.” In 2002 the H...

Young journalist David Brinkley first came to Washington, D.C. in 1943, just as World War II was transforming the nation's capital.  The sleepy Southern town that had been home to a small federal government suddenly burgeoned into a major city filled with office buildings, bureaucracy, lobbyists, and lots of money.  After the wa, in 1956, NBC paired Brinkley with Chet Huntley to co-ancho...

His first big break in the movies came with a film called The Heartbreak Kid. But that was just the beginning for Charles Grodin. Then came Midnight Run. Seems Like Old Times. The Lonely Guy. And, finally, a new generation discovered him in the Beethoven movies.  It looks like the classic success story. But in his 1989 book called It Would Be So Nice if You Weren't Here,  Grodin wanted t...

From a very early age, Caroline Kennedy was taught to appreciate the beauty and power of poetry. No surprise, really. Her parents were both very well red. Her father was a famous author, her mother was an author handbook editor. Of they were better known, perhaps, as President John F Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.  One of their enduring legacies to their children was a love of lit...

In the 1960s and into the early 70s, one of the most dominant pitchers in the National League was St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Bob Gibson. During a 17-year career, Gibson racked up 251 wins, over 3000 strikeouts, won two Cy Young awards and one year was Most Valluable Player. He was a star of the 1967 World Series in which the Cardinals beat the Boston Red Spx. Now, like any picture with that...

If he had wanted to, Dave Berry probably could have been a successful stand-up comedian. Instead, he wrote a humor column. And wrote books. Lots and lots of books. Over about a 20-year period, I think I interviewed Dave almost 20 times.  Two of those interviews stand out, including the one you're about to hear. It was for his book Dave Barry Turns 40. I thought it was an appropriate interview...

In the '90s and early 2000s, one of the most popular TV personalities in the world was Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. He happily and enthusiastically introduced his viewers to some ofthe world's most exotic, and dangerous, wildlife. Ultimately it was a fatal encounter with a stingray that prematurely eded his life in 2006. Steve was just 44. The following year his widow Terri published a book calle...

55 years ago African Americans were making historic gains in civil rights. But much work was still to be done.  That year, 1966, Bobby Seale and his longtime friend Huey Newton created a new organization they called the Black Panther Party.  In 1968 Seal made a name for himself during anti-Vietnam War protests outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  It was not his fi...

Most people consider Terry Bradshaw, formerly of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, to be among the greatest quarterbacks ever.  His list of accomplishments, on and off the is impressive. He's had a long and fruitful career as a broadcaster, and he's one some acting. And he's also written a couple of books. That's how I met him, in 2002.  And no, football is not the center of his life.

Today doctors call it "dissociative identity disorder" but when Chris Costner Sizemore was diagnosed and treated for it over 60 years ago, it was simply called "multiple personality disorder." The movie "TheThree Faces of EVe" came out in 1957, changing Sizemore's name to EveWhite. Her "alters" were Eve Black .. and Jane.  Actress Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for her portrayal of Eve. It late...

He was one of the hottest young movie stars in the 1950s... Tab Hunter -- who grew up as Artt Gelien -- was a figure skater as a teenager.  As a young man, a friend introduced him to a Hollywood agent who specialized in beefcake actors like Rock Hudson and Rober/ Wagner.  That agent dubbed Art Gelien "Tab Hunter" and by 1950 he was in the movies. And by the mid 1950s was major star, the...

In the 1950s, few actors dominated Broadway the way Yul Brynner did. Playing the lead in the Rodgers and Hammerstein's play “The King and I,” Brynner eEstablished himself as a top-tier performer.  He won two Tonys for his portrayal of the King of Siam, as well as an Academy Award when the play was adapted to film. Later he was cast in such big budget movies as the Ten Commandments, The Magnif...

Naomi Judd was born "Diana Judd" not long after World War II ended. Her dad ran a gas station in Ashland, Kentucky, By the time she was in her mid 30s, Judd was a divorced single mom with two daughters, struggling to keep a household going. That's when she and her older daughter discovered that they liked to sing and harmonize with each other. And they got pretty good at it. Before long, they came...

As a young journalist in the 1950s, Carl T. Rowan covered the emerging civil rights movement, and its leaders, including people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. The reputation he built came to the attention of President John F. Kennedy, who, in 1961, name Rowan to a high level position in the State Department.  And in 1963, Kennedy appointed Rowan ambassador to Finland. Row and rem...