Larry King needs no introduction. He was a permanent fixture in the world of international news media for years before retiring.

Larry is a decorated broadcaster with over 25 years of television experience at CNN and still continues to ask simple questions on his online platform “Larry King Now”.

Hired by CNN’s Ted Turner off The Larry King radio show, he grew to become a staple for many across the world becoming a legend in the process.

Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on November 19, 1933, to Jewish immigrants — a bar owner and a garment worker — Larry writes about his growing up on welfare in Brooklyn, New York, with brother Marty in the 1940s.

His father Edward died young following a heart attack, an augury that would follow Larry into adulthood partly thanks to constant smoking.

The Zeiger family did not have a TV set then, they couldn’t afford one. But they had a radio and Larry’s mother Jennie encouraged him to tune into his favourite show, Uncle Don.

Of that he would write “radio was more exciting than watching television because your mind could picture anything.”

So how did he become King if his last name was Zeiger? I hear you ask. Larry moved to Miami, Florida, in May 1957 where he got his first radio gig after the prime slot presenter quit.

The station manager at the time was not impressed by his last name, something about it being “too ethnic” and “hard to remember”.

So five minutes before Larry Zeiger went on air he picked up the name “King” from a King’s Wholesale Liquor advertisement; and thus the legend was born.

His non-confrontational interviewing style has endeared him to guests and viewers alike. While giving tips on his interviewing style he says: “Ask good questions, the simplest questions are the best.’’

The man whose natural way with words has six ex-wives to match — walking to the altar a total of eight times and marrying one woman twice — uses humour and personal experiences from which the reader can draw lessons.

The biography, written by a man deep in his 70s at the time, is littered with warmth about family and a life lived with few regrets.