One of the many positive things about my long career in journalism is that I have had the opportunity to interview a wide variety of people from all walks of life.
Some had interesting stories about their lives and the people they met. It’s always been interesting to look inside the person to see the real person, not just the one they often portray to the public.
Thinking about all these people, I began to wonder what it would be like to interview some of the interesting people in history and have the opportunity to hear their story.
So, for fun, I’ve compiled a sort of “wish list” – in no particular order or ranking – of people I’d be interested in sitting down with my digital recorder to hear their story. They are people from different times in history, but the common thread is that they lived unique and interesting lives.
The case in point is whether you are a religious person or not, someone who would make an interesting interview is Jesus Christ. How can a man not be on a list of this type who has influenced the world for more than 2000 years?
It’s hard to think of others who would fall into a similar category for so long. Considering the Bible is the best-selling book of all time, talking to the man it’s about would make for an intriguing interview.
Since we’re already in the skies, another person that would be fun to interview would be astronaut Neil Armstrong. Here was the first man to ever set foot on the moon. It would be incredibly interesting to know what thoughts were going on in that mind at that moment.
It will be great to hear how much effort has gone into finding his historic words “That’s one small step for man. A Giant Leap for Mankind” when he first set foot on the lunar surface.
Perhaps what draws me a little to Armstrong is a strange twist of fate associated with him. A few years ago, when my brother and I traveled to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, we spent the night in Armstrong’s hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio, where we planned to tour a museum in his honor.
As fate would have it, Armstrong died of complications from surgery that evening, and it was just strange to be in the city where he was born and raised on the very day of his death.
Having been in the newspaper business for four decades, it’s hard not to pick someone from the media, and I think the perfect person to interview would be longtime television news anchor Walter Cronkite.
His career spans historical events such as World War II, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., historic political conventions, the Korean and Vietnam wars, major elections, and the rise of the space program, to name a few.
Through it all, he had a front row seat to history, but more importantly, he had the ear of America, who trusted the accuracy of what he was telling us. Wouldn’t it be great to hear what he had to say about all this subject material or even better to have someone like him today?
Speaking of someone who had a front row in history, how about Queen Elizabeth who spent seven decades on the throne as Queen of England? When you think about the world leaders she has met and the history she has seen unfold, it is nothing short of astonishing.
More importantly, it has remained relevant in society all these years. Can you even imagine the information coming from an interview of this magnitude?
There have been countless athletes who have influenced their respective sports over the years, but perhaps none more so than Jackie Robinson, starting in 1947. Being the first black major league baseball player was no easy task in a sport then known as “the game of America”. “
Robinson endured massive amounts of racism from fans, opposing teams, and unfortunately, his own teammates throughout his career. It’s something that would most likely destroy a lesser man, but he persevered through it all to be a great player and, more importantly, pave the way for many other minority players to follow.
This is an interview that would be interesting to hear and even more interesting to write.
Being a writer, there has to be someone on my list who lived up to the written word and someone who caught my attention from both his writings and the PBS series about him: Ernest Hemingway. “Papa,” as he was known to his family, was a much different person in real life than the media portrayed him.
He still lived a fascinating life, doing things like being a medic in World War I, running with the bulls in Spain, and deep-sea fishing in Cuba. So delving into what was beneath this media-created persona would certainly make for an interesting interview.
Winston Churchill is one person who caught my attention after reading Erik Larson’s great novel The Splendid and the Vile about the German air strike on London in World War II. His words and speeches gave hope to the people of Great Britain in their darkest hours.
Wouldn’t it be great to hear his inspiration for these words? Unfortunately, none of those interviews will ever happen, but you can’t blame this retired journalist for still dreaming about them long after he sees you again on Thursday.
Ken Grabowski is a retired journalist with more than 36 years in the newspaper business.