As some of you may know, I worked with Walter Cronkite in NY during the late 1980s when he narrated the Knowledge Products tapes on the U.S. Constitution. I had many lengthy conversations with him, all of which were very interesting -- especially those about his experiences as a war correspondent during WWII, most notably at the Battle of the Bulge where he was hemmed in with the American troops.

Virtually the first thing that Cronkite did on the very first day at the studio was to ask a studio employee to go out and get him a couple six-packs of Coca Cola and several of those giant Hershey chocolate bars, which he then consumed throughout the day. And this routine repeated itself every day thereafter.

Can anyone say "sugar rush?"

One other amusing story: On around the third day, Cronkite came into the studio late and looking a bit disheveled. He then asked if someone could loan him five dollars. He explained that he had gotten up late and therefore decided to take a cab rather than walk, even though he was staying near the studio. But he was in such a hurry that he forgot to check his wallet, and it turned out that he didn't have enough money for cab fare.

He then said: "I told the cabbie that I was Walter Cronkite and that he could trust me, but he said he didn't care who I was and that I owed him five bucks."

So I loaned Walter Cronkite five dollars, and he rushed out to pay the irate NYC cabbie.