Just Plains Folks Stage Reunion

--”Most of you look better than you did four years ago,” Jimmy Carter quipped to about 75 of his former staffers, some wearing faded “Carter for President” T-shirts, at a reunion hosted by the former President and his wife, Rosalynn, in Plains, Ga. More than 300 persons came to the two-day gathering, which included a softball game and fish fry Saturday and a barbecue and church service today. “We’ve seen seven friends here from the White House,” said a woman who ran into former Press Secretary Jody Powell outside Carter’s cousin Hugh’s antique store. “Really? I never had any friends in the White House,” Powell replied. Also attending was retired Brig. Gen. Josiah Blasingame, former director of the White House Communications Agency, who said of the softball game: “I’m not much of a softball player, but with that group, it won’t matter.”

--While others within his social circle lavish their fortunes on polo ponies, yachts and race cars, American oil millionaire John Paul Getty II has displayed a penchant for cricket, donating $2.1 million to help pay for a new spectators’ stand at Lord’s, the famous London cricket ground. The gift by the reclusive Londoner will meet more than a third of the stand’s cost at the 200-year-old ground of the Marylebone Cricket Club, a club official said. He said that Getty, who recently became a member of the club, “sees cricket as an art, as an American might.”

--A slight flick of the wrist almost spoiled a Massachusetts produce dealer’s bid for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Paul Tavilla, 51, of Arlington, caught a large red grape that was dropped 520 feet, 5 inches from the roof of a 38-story building on July 7. But Guinness officials initially told him that his catch didn’t count because the grape was dropped and not tossed, as had been done by previous record-setters. But Tavilla said he had been notified that the book’s publishers decided to accept his feat as a record in a new category: dropped-grape catching.

--Rock star Mick Jagger and model Jerry Hall, reportedly unable to agree on a name for their 5-day-old son, could take a tip from Illinois parents, who made Matthew the most popular boy’s name in that state for the fifth year in a row. The Illinois Name Society, which surveys hospitals for its list of the most popular names for babies, reported that Sarah was the name most often chosen for girls. A surprise entry on the list this year was Jenna, from the character Jenna Wade on CBS’ “Dallas,” played by Priscilla Presley, which placed ninth. Jagger and Hall became the parents of a 7-pound, 21-inch boy on Wednesday, Jagger’s first son.