Now I've Heard Everything

It's a rare privilege for an author to see, in their lifetime, the broad and deep social and cultural impact the one of their books has. 

One of those who were so privileged was author Alex Haley. His meticulously researched 1976 book Roots, which traced his own family's ancestry from Africa, became not just a best seller, but a cultural milepost. 

It awakened a new pride of family have ancestry among millions of And it Shone a harsh Spotlight on the horrors of slavery, four black and white alike. 

ABC TV recognized the power of roots, and turned it into television's first major miniseries. It was, and remains to this day, a landmark television achievement. 

I met him almost 33 years ago, after he had just finished a novel based, in part, on the kind of characters he popularized in Roots. 

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 through the courts. Then, in 1987, he met the woman who would be his last lawyer: Polly Nelson.

A freshly minted lawyer with a big Washington law firm, Nelson was chosen to do some pro bono work – it turned out, it was the Bundy case.

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, often diving deep into the personal lives of the sports stars, and would be stars, that he covered.

Oh, he knew all the technical stuff, but his real strength was his ability to bring out the personalities.

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 Chinatown.

But a drug-related conviction in 1980 was a major setback to Evans, and he never came back to his former glory. His last movie in 2003 was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

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 rival i b m on the run.

In 1987, in the middle of his 10-year run at Apple, Scully wrote a book about his transition from Pepsi.  And that's when I met him. 

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.”

 No doubt Carl Louis was one of the world's greatest athletes. The problem, according to many of his competitors, was that he was much too aware of how good he was, and eager to show it off. 

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 aim was to help people in all walks of life -- not just former presidents -- navigate their later years.

Amd tjat's how I met them.

So here now, from 1987, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.