Happy birthday, Studs

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- American original Studs Terkel, the author and oral historian who for decades gave a voice to working men and women, turned 95 Wednesday. But don't worry about his memory. He's sharp as a tack.

In fact, he's the one doing the worrying -- about what he describes as the memory loss of a country he suggests may be more interested in the transgressions of celebrities than more substantive affairs such as the politics of the Bush administration, which he characterizes as a “burlesque show.”

I watched Terkel work a couple of times in Chicago. He's a master interviewer and a great guy to have lunch with.

At his birthday party the other evening (“You know you're in trouble when they hold your birthday party at the history museum,” teased a speaker) Studs announced his choice of epitaph: “Curiosity did not kill this cat.”

Link: Legendary listener turns 95 - CNN.com