PRESIDENT George Bush beat the US Postal Service and Vice-President Dan Quayle to win the Millard Society's ''Medal of Mediocrity'' on the strength of his plunge from record high popularity after the Gulf War. The society is named after president Fillmore, who was sworn in after Zachary Taylor died in 1950, was defeated in 1952 and finished a distant third when he ran in 1956.
CHRISSIE Hynde, a militant vegetarian, has given the thumbs up to McDonald's first meatless burger. The lead singer of the Pretenders, who once said McDonald's should be bombed, said ''I like it'' after trying the pattie of mashed potatoes, carrots, peasand onions topped with pickles, cottage cheese and chives, in Amsterdam.
A THIEF made off with former Washington mayor Marion Barry's car while he was at his first meeting as a newly-elected member of the city council. Police later found the 1991 Chrysler New Yorker in the neighbourhood Mr Barry was elected to represent six months after finishing a six-month prison term for cocaine possession.
JACK Nicholson has found a new girlfriend, Rene Jeffus. Apparently, the mother of his children, Rebecca Broussard, doesn't want anything to do with him and at the moment is quite content with actor Adam Sorkin, who appeared with her and Nicholson in the movie The Two Jakes.
WOODY Allen and Soon Yi Previn were sighted by Newsday last week at a restaurant called Felida, on Manhattan's East 58th Street. Both ordered bruschetta and pasta. He wolfed penne. She, tortellini. He, white wine. She red.
ALAN Page, a pro lineman with the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears from 1967 to 1981, was sworn in as a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
