Judges Take Bait, Buy Fish Story

It didn’t take a tall tale, only a short one, for Roy Harpham of Holstein, Neb., to win the Great Plains Liars Open and a non-immortal place in the National Liars’ Hall of Fame. His entry: “I once met an honest fisherman.” Folklorist Roger Welsch, board chairman of the Liars’ Hall of Fame, called Harpham’s story “the craziest story I ever heard,” adding that saying there is an honest fisherman is like believing in unicorns. Welsch said Harpham’s victory was announced in advance of this weekend’s Liars’ Hall of Fame non-banquet at Eric’s Big Table Tavern in Danneborg, Neb. Harpham was not told he won and was not invited to the non-banquet because sponsors did not want to pay for his meal, Welsch said. He described the judges as “a panel of experts, people whose word cannot be trusted.”

--Winding up his carefree undergraduate days at Chicago’s Loyola University, Max Wang, 89, who received his bachelor’s degree in modern languages, said he will probably get a degree next in philosophy. “It’s not the degree that keeps me going. . . . For one thing, they have many beautiful girls in those classes,” said Wang, who has never married. “I always get kisses from them too.” A native of Austria, Wang received his first degree in chemical engineering in 1921 from the Technical University of Vienna. He became a U.S. citizen in 1956 and worked as a chemical engineer until retiring at 70. After taking adult education classes in particle physics at Loyola, his professors urged him to work for a bachelor’s degree in another of his special talents, languages. “Your memory gets weaker, yes,” he said, acknowledging that he worries about age. “But if I have any advice for younger students, it’s keep your body healthy. The activity of the mind cannot work without it.”

--Buckingham Palace was keeping mum, but London’s tabloids buzzed with rumors that Prince Andrew’s wife, the Duchess of York, may be expecting a baby. The former Sarah Ferguson, 27, and Prince Andrew, 26, were married last July 23 at Westminster Abbey. A spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II said: “When the Duchess of York tells us she is pregnant, we will be happy to announce it. She hasn’t told us.”

--Being known as “Gopher” on the television series “Love Boat” may not be the best image for a politician. But Rep. Fred Grandy (R-Iowa) took command of his fate and proposed to Catherine Mann, whom he met on the “Love Boat” set several years ago while he was playing the role of the bumbling ship’s purser and Mann was working as a reporter for the television program “Entertainment Tonight.” They will wed March 28.