Whatever you may think of Hugh Hefner and Playboy, you have to acknowledge that he created an empire literally from scratch.
He grew up in what he described as a 'conservative Midwestern Methodist' family.
He said he never really liked school, but he loved writing, a hobby that would eventually come in very handy.
After high school, he enlisted in the army and served as a writer for a military newspaper from 1944-1946. He was honorably discharged in 1946.
He went to college and graduated in just two and a half years from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, with a BA in psychology and a double minor in creative writing and art.
After graduation, he wrote for Esquire magazine, but quit after he was denied a raise.
The experience at Esquire gave him the idea for a magazine that offered content exclusively to men, so he decided to start his own magazine.
He borrowed $2,000 from his mother and brother and another $6,000 from pitching friends and set about creating Playboy. After he obtained a nude photo of Marilyn Monroe, he issued the first edition of Playboy, which sold more than 50,000 copies and became an instant hit.
Listen to Bill's segment about Hugh Hefner.