People in the News: Arnold's itch for office? Scratch that

Friday, October 1, 1999

As rumors swirl that the liberal Warren Beatty may run for president, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, says he has thought "many times" about seeking office.

"The possibility is there because I feel it inside," the Kennedy in-law said in an interview in the November issue of Talk magazine. "I feel there are a lot of people in politics that are standing still and not doing enough. And there's a vacuum -- therefore, I can move in."

But not right now, apparently.

"No," the actor's spokeswoman said in Los Angeles yesterday. "He is not thinking about running for office."

One possibility for the "Terminator" star and husband of Maria Shriver is the California governorship, which is up for grabs in three years.

Sold! Koo-koo-ka-choo.

The lyrics for John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus" sold for $129,000 at auction at Christie's in London. The lyric sheet contains 20 lines of the 1967 Beatles classic and was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder.

The sheet contains Lennon's notes and changes, including the deletion of the word "policeman," which was changed to "priestess."

The lyrics are believed to have been inspired by the Lewis Carroll poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter."

George Harrison's 1962 Rickenbacker guitar also went to an anonymous bidder, for $92,900.

Other top sellers included an Elvis Presley shirt, worn in the 1970 movie "Elvis -- That's the Way It Is." It went for nearly $32,900. Presley's cream-colored stage suit sold for $20,800.

It's one thing for a woman to be related to Winston Churchill. It's another to look like the late British prime minister.

So Arabella Churchill of Somerset, England, is going to put some distance -- surgically -- between herself and her famous grandfather. And we all get to watch.

By early next year, Dr. Steven Bloch of Highland Park, Ill., will perform a facelift on the 49-year-old Churchill, an operation that will be broadcast live on the Internet. "She does look somewhat like Winston Churchill, and as she ages is starting to look like him more and more," Bloch said.

P-I News Services