Standing in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Bill Clinton kicked off his speech with a love story. The former president told the audience how he first met his wife, sharing a story many people haven't heard before. "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl," he said before going on to describe his initial impressions of Hillary. As Bill recalled, she wore big glasses and no makeup and exuded a "sense of strength and self-possession" that he found "magnetic."

One night, standing in the law library at Yale, a young Bill found himself staring at his future wife — but it was Hillary who approached him. According to Bill, she called him out, saying, "If you're going to keep staring at me, and now I'm staring back, we at least ought to know each others' names. I'm Hillary Rodham. Who are you?" Bill's reaction? "I was so impressed and surprised that, whether you believe it or not, I was momentarily speechless," he said, prompting laughs from the audience.

Here's what he had to say about their first date, which included an embarrassing moment for Bill:

"Well, I didn't join the Law Review, but I did leave that library with a whole new goal in mind. A couple days later, I remember, I saw her again, she was wearing a long white flowery skirt. And I went up to her and she said she was going to register for classes for the next term. I said I'd go, too. And we stood in line and talked — you had to do that to register back then — and I thought I was doing pretty well until we got to the front of the line and the registrar looked up and said, 'Bill, what are you doing here? You registered this morning!'"

"I turned red, and she laughed that big laugh of hers. And I thought, 'Well heck, since my cover's been blown,' and I just went ahead and asked her to take a walk down to the art museum. We've been walking, talking, and laughing together ever since."

Watch a clip of Bill Clinton's speech below, then catch up on all our coverage of the Democratic National Convention [1].