Reporter’s diary

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Signature tuning JOHN Worthington is puzzled. Why did Leeza Gibbons, when she arrived at Christchurch airport for Telethon, sign autographs “Leeza Wells.” Why indeed? Mr Worthington sent us a copy of the mysterious autograph given to his son, and yes, it does look like Wells. But inquiries have failed to turn up any such surname in Leeza’s family, so we looked a bit harder. The signature IS, we think, Gibbons, with the last three letters contracted. If it was Wells, the E, W, and L would match those in the rest of the message — but they don’t. The odd initial letter (G?), had us foxed, until some helpful spark with a penchant for romantic connections suggested it was a Q, standing for Quinten. Our money’s on Gibbons. Olympic... OKAY, folks, it’s Olympic trivia time. Harold and

Olga Connolly, Peter and Suzanne Allday, and Howard and Rosemary Payne, were all Olympic athletes — hammer throwers married to discus throwers. All three couples had twins. There must be a message in that somewhere. ... trivia LIVING and training so close to thousands of other determined sportsmen and women must leave the competitors with a healthy appreciation of

the finer points of social interaction under stress. This may have been what inspired the 1936 Games discus champion, Gisela Mauermayer, to get her doctorate after World War II by studying the social behaviour of ants,. New tack NOW here’s a good idea (kindly supplied by Television New Zealand programming gremlins). According to them, there is a new Olympic event: team dressage yachting. How about it, Dennis? Every cloud... DRIVING to Oamaru late on Tuesday evening, a young Christchurch man was upset when his car broke down on a lonely stretch. He got out to inspect the damage, promptly locking his keys in the car. No matter, any self-respecting Kiwi male knows how to manipulate a piece of No. 8 wire. Just as he was persuading the door lock to pop up, a bus

stopped, and the driver told him to hop aboard. He got a free ride to Winchester, the nearest town, as the driver would not accept any payment. In Winchester, a garage came to the lad’s rescue by fetching the car and towing it back to the garage. There it stayed safely until he returned the next day to make it roadworthy. The garage, too, would not accept any money, so the young man had to leave some in a conspicuous place. He was left with a warm impression of people in South Canterbury. Gay parry OF all the people to choose. A lesbian was waiting to meet someone at Christchurch airport when another woman approached her to ask if she was gay. “Ye-s-s,” she said, naturally a little hesitant. “Gaye Smith?” (not her real name) asked the other woman. —Jenny Setchell