QUEEN ELIZABETH'S grandson Peter Phillips has won a place at Exeter University to study sports science after passing three A levels. He got his results while touring South Africa with the Scottish Schools rugby team.
Peter (18) was the queen's first grandchild. He sat on her knee during part of her Christmas broadcast just after his first birthday. His good looks have attracted attention - not all of it welcome. He was recently called a "hunk" by a gay magazine.
The rock band R.E.M has signed a new contract with Warner Bros Records, rumoured to be the largest recording deal in history. It involves £51.6 million for five albums, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The band was formed in Athens, Georgia, in the early 1980s and is made up of frontman Michael Stipe, drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills. Their hits include Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People and Everybody Hurts.
Michael Jackson's concert in Casablanca next month has been cancelled after authorities refused it permission.
Jackson visited the city recently and said he wanted to perform there because it reminded him of the Hollywood movie Casablanca.
The contents of a villa once lived in by the British poet Lord Byron is to be auctioned. Byron lived in the villa Diodati overlooking Geneva in 1816, as he was on his way to Italy, and there wrote his poem Childe Harold. It remained a literary centre until the second World War.