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A
few words about myself...
I have been interested in history as long as I can remember--probably
thanks to my dad, who is also a long time history enthusiast.
When I was a boy my parents bought me a set of those Time-Life
history books loaded with heroic color illustrations. They
captured my imagination and never let go. I’ve been inundating
long-suffering family and friends with tales from history ever since.
But it took quite a while before I found a way to work history storytelling
into my job description.
After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1978, I worked in radio
and television news, first in and around Chicago, then in Boston.
In 1990 I joined some old friends to form Smash,
where I was able to work on advertising and documentary production--astrangely
satisfying mix. After 15 years I left Smash to set up my own
production company, Plate of
Peas.
December 1997 marked the beginning of one of the most rewarding
projects I have ever undertaken Timelab 2000, a series
of more than 200 one-minute history segments hosted by Sam Waterston
on The History Channel®. It was a dream-come-true for
me—a chance to tell quirky, surprising stories from history
to an audience of millions. This project was the inspiration for
The Greatest Stories Never Told, and the follow-up book that
has just come out, The Greatest War Stories Never Told.
I have been lucky enough to work on numerous
other projects for The History Channel, including the recent
documentaries Secrets
of Jamestown and The
Wright Challenge. That work has taken me around the world,
enabled me to talk to all sorts of people on historical topics,
from the man who helped lay out the Berlin Wall (literally drawing
the line between East and West) to the Argentine army general who
was defeated in the Battle of the Falkland Islands. There are new
discoveries and adventures every day.The most recent is an exciting
project on the Ghost Army
In addition to my two books, a non-fiction story I wrote
entitled "A Plate
of Peas" appeared in I
Thought My Father Was God, an anthology edited by Paul Auster,
and published in 2000.
Other things I’ve done with my life:
•Interview Jimmy Carter
in the White House
•Climb Mt. Washington
4 times
•Get called stupid by
David Brinkley
•Be consoled by Mary Tyler
Moore
•Ski race in Norway
•Get married during
a lightning storm
Lightning truly struck that day, because I’m still married
to the same wonderful person (Marilyn Rea Beyer). We
live with our two children, Bobbie and Andy, in Lexington, Mass.
If you want to reach me, feel free to email at author@rickbeyer.net
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