PEOPLE
Spain's El Cordobés (below) has always been a great soccer enthusiast, but not as much of a one as recent reports have made him out. "El Cordobés, Spain's top bullfighter, is paying ¬£6,000 for the chance to play three games of soccer," panted one London paper. "The matador—real name Manuel Benítez—has given the cash to his home-town club, Cordoba. They guarantee him three games, at least one on the first team.... 'It seemed the only way,' said Manuel." This bit of information made the rounds in England, and in Spain it caused such an uproar that the Cordoba soccer team has been forced to issue a solemn and explicit statement to the effect that it has not received "a single peseta from the matador," that the matador never intended to sign on, nor would the team management have taken the matador seriously if he had tried to sign on. All in all, it came to a good deal of fuss resulting from one of the feebler jokes of 1968. The Cordoba soccer team is wavering on the brink of a slip from first to second division, and all El Cordobés did was tease some friends on the team by offering them his assistance.
Charles Lindbergh made his first public speech in 10 years recently when he addressed the joint session of the Alaska legislature in Juneau on the subject of conservation. In a soft voice, speaking extemporaneously, he earnestly advised his listeners that nothing we can do anywhere is more important than the protection of our natural environment, and he reminded them that extermination of wildlife around the world is becoming more and more serious. Specifically, for Alaska, Lindbergh recommended measures which would abolish the bounty on predators and make it illegal to hunt from airplanes. "It is absolutely necessary that we take steps now to protect what to us at this time seems commonplace," he observed. At the conclusion of his speech the audience gave Lindbergh a standing ovation and was rewarded with a rare, broad Lindbergh grin.
Norway's Crown Prince Harald and his fiancée plan a skiing holiday for this spring, and it may be the last one for a while. Skiing and yachting are the crown prince's only hobbies, but bride-to-be Sonja Haraldsen has remarked that after the wedding there will be no time for hobbies. Apparently she's letting him go to the Olympics, though. He is still scheduled to compete for Norway in the 5.5-meter class.
It doesn't sound like the kind of problem John Wayne should have run into in Texas, somehow. Having a horse shot out from under him, yes. Finding himself stuck on board a yacht with a failed motor in Galveston Bay, no. Wayne, with Actor Bruce Cabot, Astronaut Wally Schirra and his wife, Director Andrew McLaughlin and Producer Robert Arthur, was aboard Don Shepherd's yacht, Miss Rachel, en route to the annual Channel Derby, when the motor conked out. The Coast Guard sent the Sea Bum to the rescue, and Schirra organized a bucket brigade to transfer such essentials as "Irma Shepherd's hors d'oeuvres, cherry tomatoes, taillight olives, life jackets, sarsaparilla, etc." Wayne, as gallant at sea as on land but somewhat less effective, helped Actor Cabot lift the ladies over the rail.
Senator Robert Kennedy, in a recent speech to the students at the University of Alabama, observed, "The bad news is that Bear Bryant will not run as my Vice-President. The good news is that he will let me run as his Vice-President."
As everybody knows, men may date those flashy blondes, but they marry quiet brunettes who look like librarians—consider Pitcher Bo Belinsky and Jo Collins, the librarian-type below. Bo was engaged for a time to that swinging blonde, Actress Mamie Van Doren, but his innate conservatism or something prevailed, and he broke the engagement. Now he has found the girl of his dreams, for whom he has quit, or been suspended from, the Houston Astros. To be with Jo, Bo requested a three-hour extension of the 12 o'clock Saturday-night curfew. General Manager Spec Richardson refused it and, when he told Bo he was to be sent to the Astros' minor league club in Oklahoma City, Bo announced that he would quit. What he really wants to do, Bo says, is marry Miss Collins as soon as her divorce becomes final and settle down—on a dude ranch he plans to start in Hawaii.
TWO PHOTOS