Jerry Springer

Jerry Springer’s long-running and scandalous talk show is probably what he’ll always be known for, but there’s a lot you don’t know about him. For instance, he was born in London in a subway station that was being used as a bomb shelter during World War II.

Before his show ran, he had a varied political career. He ran for Congress and lost in 1970, and then served on the Cincinnati City Council. That abruptly ended when police discovered him in a “massage parlor” in Kentucky. Springer dusted himself off and, after an unsuccessful run for governor of Ohio on the Democratic ticket, he served a year as mayor of Cincinnati.