Lowell Thomas*

Lowell Thomas was born in 1892 in Woodington, Ohio. His father was a doctor, and his mother was a teacher. When he was eight, Thomas moved with his family to Victor, Colorado, where he sold newspapers in gambling halls and saloons. He also worked as a gold miner and range rider to finance his education.

After he graduated from Victor High School, Thomas earned a bachelor's degree in education and science from Valparaiso University. He then received a bachelor's and a master's from the University of Denver, and taught oratory at Chicago-Kent College of Law and Princeton University. He earned a master's degree from Princeton in 1916. To pay for room and board during his school years, Thomas waited tables, worked as a short-order cook, and fed and milked the cows of one of his professors. He also punched cattle and pitched hay on the Ute Indian Reservation.

Thomas began his career in journalism in 1911 as the editor of the Victor Daily Record. He later wrote for the Denver Post, Denver Times, and the Chicago Evening News.

During World War I, Thomas traveled to Jerusalem, where he met T. E. Lawrence, a captain in the British Army. They created With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia, which was an instant success.

In the 1920s, Thomas was a magazine editor. In 1930, he became a broadcaster with CBS radio. He hosted the first-ever television news broadcast in 1930 and the first regularly scheduled television news broadcast in 1940. Thomas was best known for his 1950s television series High Adventure and the 1970s television show Lowell Thomas Remembers.

Thomas has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 1989, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.