LONDON - Organizers of the Whitbread Book of the Year Award have named Hugh Grant to the panel of judges for the 2004 prize.
Sponsor Whitbread PLC announced Wednesday that the 44-year-old star of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill" would join a panel that includes broadcasters Trevor McDonald and Mariella Frostrup, lawmaker Michael Portillo and Lord Hattersley, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party.
On the award's Web site, Grant - who studied English at Oxford University - cited Kingsley Amis' "Lucky Jim," Philip Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint," Vladimir Nabokov's "Speak, Memory" and "The Blessing" by Nancy Mitford as his favorite books.
The annual Whitbread Book Awards were established in 1971 and are Britain's longest-running literary competition. They are open to residents of Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Winners in each of five categories - novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children's book - will be announced Jan. 6. One of the five, selected by Grant and his fellow judges, will win the $58,000 book of the year prize on Jan. 25.
Previous celebrity judges have included model Jerry Hall and actor Ralph Fiennes.
---
On the Net:
http://www.whitbread-bookawards.co.uk
---
DALLAS - Motley Crue singer Vince Neil is accused of knocking out an employee of a Dallas nightclub after a disagreement over sound levels during a concert.
An arrest warrant for misdemeanor assault was issued Wednesday for Neil in the fight at Gilley's Dallas during an Oct. 30 show.
Gilley's soundman Michael Talbert was knocked unconscious by a punch allegedly thrown by Neil that pushed him to the floor. A CAT scan showed a mild concussion, Talbert told The Dallas Morning News for a story in Thursday's editions.
According to a police report attached to the warrant, the singer motioned for more guitar volume but bolted across the stage as Talbert adjusted it. The affidavit said Neil jumped onto the soundboard, kicked at Talbert, then punched him in the face.
The soundman was knocked unconscious for about 45 seconds, the warrant said.
Motley Crue members have announced a reunion tour that will bring the band to Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie on March 17.
Dallas police and prosecutors said if Neil doesn't contact them about the warrant, they probably will wait to act on it when he returns to the area.
Police had given the 43-year-old singer a criminal-trespass warning before he left the club and headed to Houston for a Halloween show.
---
On the Net:
http://www.motley.com/index.php
---
SHANGHAI, China - Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is starring in a public service television announcement that urges Chinese to show more love and care for children stricken with leukemia.
Beckham, wife of England soccer captain David Beckham, is appearing in a 60-second TV spot with 10 young Shanghai leukemia patients, the Shanghai Daily said Thursday, citing the Shanghai Charity Foundation.
"What Victoria displays to the public is not only her personal charm as an international superstar but also the image of a loving mother," spokesman Ma Zhongqi was quoted as saying.
Ma said his foundation, which has raised about $120 million for some 50 charity projects, hoped to invite other international celebrities to participate in events.
---
ASPEN, Colo. - Don Johnson can breathe easy again.
All the creditors listed on bankruptcy petitions involving the former "Miami Vice" and "Nash Bridges" star have been paid off, Denver lawyer Lee Kutner said Tuesday.
Kutner said Johnson's companies should be emerging from bankruptcy soon.
"He has obtained new financing," Kutner said.
Los Angeles-based City National Bank sued Johnson in March, seeking to force an auction of his 17-acre ranch near Aspen to recoup $930,000 it claimed he owed. The ranch was put up for sale for $21 million, but Johnson ended up paying the debt in time.
Other bills paid include Aspen Valley Hospital ($7,345), the Of Grape & Grain liquor store ($377), Aspen's Isberian Rug Co. ($1,228), Planted Earth in Carbondale ($764) and the Aspen law firm of Garfield & Hecht ($2,787).
"He paid his bill and he paid it in full," said Joan Boyles, owner of Carbondale Crystal River Valley Spas, which was owed $4,966.
Johnson's well-documented grocery bill of $5,740 to Clark's Market, which sued him earlier this year and won, has also been paid, according to court papers filed last week in Pitkin County Court.
The grocery tab saga was the stuff of gossip for supermarket tabloids. The Woody Creek Tavern, near Johnson's estate, at one point had a tip jar asking for contributions to bail him out.
---
LONDON - The sale of a magnum of champagne from the 1981 wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles fizzled when auction bids failed to reach the reserve price.
Bidding for the bubbly fell flat at $1,736, short of the $1,929 reserve price at an auction in Swindon, west of London, on Wednesday.
The 1961 vintage Dom Perignon - chosen for the year of Diana's birth - was one of 12 magnums bottled in a limited edition for the royal wedding.
Auction house spokesman Dominic Winter said he was disappointed the bottle hadn't sold.
"It just failed to perform. I guess people are not as willing as they used to be to spend their money on frivolous things," Winter said.
According to a note from French winemakers Moet and Chandon that was sent with the wine shipment in 1981, the bubbly would be well past its drinking best.
"We recommend that it be consumed within two to three years at the latest," the 23-year-old note read.
Charles and Diana were divorced in 1996 and Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year.
---
LONDON - Andy Bell, lead singer of synth-pop duo Erasure, said he was "feeling fine" six years after being diagnosed with HIV.
In a statement posted on Erasure's Web site, Bell, 40, said he had been diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS in 1998 after falling ill with pneumonia on a trip to the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Bell, who recently had a double hip replacement, said he remained healthy and was "feeling fine - in fact I have never felt better."
"Being HIV does not mean that you have AIDS. My life expectancy should be the same as anyone else's, so there is no need to panic," he said.
"There is still so much hysteria and ignorance surrounding HIV and AIDS. Let's just get on with life, i.e. music, doing a live tour and generally having a good time."
Bell and former Depeche Mode and Yazoo keyboardist Vince Clarke formed Erasure in 1985 and have had hits including "A Little Respect," "Sometimes" and "Ship of Fools."
---
On the Net:
---
BOMBAY, India - Walt Disney Co. will launch two new channels in English and regional languages in India - a market of 100 million preschool children - later this month.
The Disney Channel and the Toon Disney Channel will feature cartoons, animation movies, family dramas, live-action adventure stories and locally produced and hosted shows, Rajat Jain, managing director of the Indian arm of Walt Disney Television International, said Wednesday.
About 60 movies will be shown each month.
"India is a priority market for us," Jain told reporters. "With more than 100 million children, it's the world's biggest preschool market."
India will be the first Asia-Pacific market to air Toon Disney, an animation channel with characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Jain said. The 24-hour channel will be available in English and Hindi in northern India, and in the Tamil and Telugu languages in the south.
"We intend to break language barriers," said Jain.
India's rapidly expanding cable TV coverage reaches more than 40 million homes. The Disney channels will be part of several offered by the STAR Group.
---
SYDNEY, Australia - "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin launched a campaign to save Australia's endangered dugongs.
The animated TV entertainer urged boat owners to slow down to avoid hitting the docile sea mammals, which are related to manatees. Dozens of dugongs die each year when they're caught in boat propellers while feeding on sea grass in shallow waters.
Irwin encouraged children to tell their boating parents to give way to dugongs, whose gray-brown bodies taper into a dolphin-like tail and which may have been mistaken for mermaids by ancient sailors.
"Kids, if you are going out there with mum and dad fishing and you see a dugong, go, 'Crikey! Have a look at that! Here's where the mermaid legend came from and they are right here, right in our bay,'" Irwin said Wednesday at the campaign launch in a coastal suburb of the Queensland state capital, Brisbane.
It isn't known how many of the sea mammals remain, but the species - which extends along coastal waters in the Pacific and Indian Oceans - is listed by the World Conservation Union as being in danger of extinction.
---
LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's ex-wife Deborah Rowe is seeking visitation rights with their children, according to court documents.
Jackson lawyer Thomas Hall said in the Superior Court filing Wednesday that he is preparing an appeal of a recent decision by a retired judge regarding the matter. Hall plans to file documents from the case and asks that they be sealed because they contain information about Jackson's assets and liabilities.
The lawyer says that while the issue is separate from Jackson's criminal case in Santa Barbara County, that matter has "exponentially increased the press attention on the parties and their lives."
Rowe's lawyer, Iris Finsilver, who participated by speakerphone in a hearing Wednesday, opposed the request.
Judge Robert Schnider continued the case until Feb. 2.
Rowe and Jackson were married in 1996 in Sydney, Australia, after they announced that Rowe, who worked as a nurse for Jackson's plastic surgeon, was carrying the pop star's child.
The marriage ended in 1999 after Rowe filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Their two children, Paris, who is 5 or 6, and Prince Michael, who is 8, reportedly live with Jackson.
Rowe gave up all parental rights in 2001, but applied for custody of the children two years later, after which both sides agreed to have retired Superior Court Judge Stephen Lachs preside over the case.
Lachs denied custody but also voided the order terminating Rowe's parental rights. Rowe then filed applications, including one seeking "settlement" terms with Jackson. All were all denied by Lachs, according to court documents.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.