A THOUSAND people called Brown are to get special teddy bears from the maker's of Hovis bread. They are intended as compensation for having had to put up with being the butt of countless jokes based on the slogan "don't say Brown say Hovis", as Britain's biggest selling bread brand changes its name to Hovis Brown. The loaf was invented by Richard "Stoney" Smith in 1886.
The vast majority of those to be given the limited edition bears are being chosen at random. But some special Browns are on the list, including Britain's first test tube baby Louise, the Shadow Chancellor Gordon Mel B of the Spice Girls, the Scottish football manager Craig, the 1960s pop star Joe and his singer daughter Sam.
Fred Zinnemann (89), who has died, won an Oscar in 1953 for best director for From Here to Eternity, which also took the award for best picture. In 1966, he did that double again on A Man for All Seasons.
Superman star Christopher Reeve (44) paralysed in a riding accident, has told how he must keep working to pay £2 50,000-a-year medical bills. The actor who broke his neck in a fall two years ago told the Sunday Mirror he is working harder than he ever did in his prime. He lined up a movie role, film directing, a stage play, a TV ad, a £2 million autobiography and a lucrative career on the lecture circuit.
The Beano has been named best British comic ever, after Dennis the Menace zapped Dan Dare, of the former Eagle, in a British poll. The 58-year-old Beano received the honour at the National Comics Awards.
Almost half of Russians believe Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's body, currently embalmed in a mausoleum in Red Square, should be buried. According to a poll cited by Interfax, 48 per cent want the father of the Bolshevik revolution buried, while 38 per cent believe his corpse should be left in its present resting place. Lenin's last wish was to be buried near his mother at Saint Petersburg.