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Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

From New York City, Mr. Charles Van Doren.

In late November of 1956, an English professor named Charles Van Doren was introduced to the nation on the TV quiz show 21.

And returning with $69,500 from Forest Hills, New York, Mr. Herbert Stemple.

Van Doren's opponent, Herb Stemple, was the game show's unbeatable champion,

the Ken Jennings of the 1950s.

Van Doren, he was an unlikely guy to become famous.

He was a quiet academic.

He didn't even own a television.

But that first night on 21, during the heyday of TV quiz shows,

catapulted Van Doren into the world of celebrity, and later, scandal.

A year before Van Doren stepped foot on the game show set, he was teaching at Columbia University.

He had spent his life in academia, making $4,400 a year.

But one day, at a party, Van Doren met a TV producer named Albert Friedman. Friedman saw the

tall, lanky, urbane academic, and the potential for stardom. NBC had tasked Friedman with finding

a contestant who could beat long-running 21 champ Herb Stemple.

Stemple was a walking library from the Bronx who wore a tight haircut and bad suits.

It would be a ratings bonanza if someone took him down.

Friedman convinced Van Doren to come on the show, and he made him a promise, a promise that threw Van Doren's life and the game show world into chaos.

He'd help Van Doren beat Stemple.

...