Reporter's Diary

Press, 22 May 1978, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Impolite

SIR ROBERT Menzies naturally met all the top people during his long career. The comedian, Barry Humphries, told the Sydney Journalists’ Club last week of Sir Robert’s only encounter with Humphries’s famous character , Dame Edna Everage. She was loitering outside the Savoy Hotel in London with a banner that said, “You Have My Mandate.” As soon as her Prime Minister came out she rushed forward, while a lurking publicity photographer snapped the historic meeting. “Oh Sir Robert,” gushed Dame Edna, “I’ve been following you for 24 hours. I’m like your little shadow.” Sir Robert replied: “From where I’m standing, Madam, it looks more like a five o’clock shadow,” Elephant duty A SECRET Sendee agent was slightly injured on Saturday when he and another agent saved Amy Carter, aged 10, the daughter of President Carter, from a runaway elephant at the home of Ethel Kennedy. The girl twice had to be thrown from one agent to another across fences to get out of the elephant’s path. One of the agents suffered a broken finger and twisted ankle. Amy and other children were at Hickory Hill, the home of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, in a Virginia suburb just outside Washington, for an annual pet contest. The elephant had been brought

in from a circus and was being guided into a van when it was frightened by a barking dog. The elephant started running through the crowd towards an open grassy area behind Amy Carter and the Secret Service agents. “Several evasive tactics were used before they were able to get to the safety of the house,” a Secret Service spokesman said. The elephant’s trainer then got the animal under control and Amy Carter was taken to the Kennedy House. Good start

THERE IS every chance that the Australian Narcotics Bureau will keep on the payroll a newly trained German shepherd dog which began duty at Sydney Airport on Saturday. On its very first day of duty, the dog sniffed out 10.5 kg of heroin, one of the biggest hauls known, which was concealed in a suitcase. The dog made its catch as the suitcase travelled along a conveyer belt. Two Sydney men have been charged with attempting to import heroin worth more than S2M on the open market. Capitalist at heart APPOINTMENT of Professor Bertell Oilman as chairman of Maryland University’s department of government is meeting strong opposition in some quarters because of the professor’s Marxist approaches to the study of politics. The state’s acting

governor says he is considering stepping in to oppose the appointment, and some state legislators have hinted at deep cuts in the university’s budget if the appointment goes through. But the "New York Times” says they need not worry. Professor Oilman is the inventor of a new board game called “Class Struggle,” and he expects to do very well out of the company he has set up to market it — a clear sign, says the newspaper, that the professor is, for practical purposes, safely devoted to the system that his Maryland opponents are so anxious to protect. Players of “Class Struggle” are divided into capitalists and workers. One roll of the “genetic dice” might yield a capitalist a card that says “Your son is a heroin addict. Your daughter has just become a follower of Rev. Moon. So what good does all your money do you? Worrying makes you forget your next two turns at the dice.” Wild west

PLANS to entertain Prince Charles at Perth, Western Australia, were shelved temporarily on Friday evening because of fears that he might be gored by a runaway bull. The bull was spotted just before the prince’s R.A.F. VCIO was due to land. The aircraft and reception vehicles were diverted to the R.A.A.F. base at Pearce, 50km away. However, as the plane was about to land at Pearce, the bull was captured at Perth Airport. The VCIO was diverted back to Perth, landing about 8.30 p.m. — 30 minutes later. The reception vehicles were also told to

turn back. After an hourlong stop-over, during which the Prince spoke to several persons, the aircraft took off and the bull was coaxed from the airport grounds to join other stock grazing near the airport fence. Sounds better

A COLLECTOR of euphemisms reports a good catch from the United States. National Airlines calls the sick bags tucked into the pockets behind seats “motion discomfort bags.” Air to blame

SMOKE from burning coal and oil causes more problems, including cancer, than any other air pollutant, according to the head of the atmospheric pollution division of the Research Institute of Environmental Hygiene in the Netherlands, Dr Levien Brasser. He told the International Clean Air Conference at Brisbane last week of a European study of children and pollution that found that smoke caused all of the “cough family" of ailments, as well as asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Irritants in smoke were blamed; and one ' type, polycyclic hydrocarbons adhering to soot particles, could cause cancer. Bargain DRESSED ducks, which a Weedons man was offering for sale on Saturday at “$2.25km,” seemed good value. After turning the birds into Peking duck, you could use the stock for long soup. — Garry Arthur