Peanut Butter Mania Spreading

--Adult peanut butter lovers are coming out of their shells and proclaiming that the food isn’t just kids’ stuff. The Adults-Only Peanut Butter Lovers Fan Club, organized by peanut growers in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, has grown to nearly 15,000 members in a little more than a year. “It’s just been overwhelming,” said Marilyn Moore, director of food and consumer services for the Georgia Peanut Commission. “The people writing in are saying, ‘Oh, we’re so glad you started this. We’ve always been peanut butter closet eaters.’ ” The club’s quarterly newsletter, “Spread the News,” features interviews with celebrities such as TV and radio talk show host Larry King, who says: “To know peanut butter is to know joy.” Other celebrities listed as honorary members include Gerald R. Ford, whose favorite presidential breakfast was peanut butter on an English muffin, columnist William Buckley, actor Charlton Heston, chef Julia Child, comedian David Brenner, TV weatherman Willard Scott and singer-actress Madonna.

--Britain’s junior health minister, Edwina Currie, received a sour reception when she crashed a wedding in her search for votes in the June 11 election. The Daily Mail newspaper published a picture of Currie, a Conservative, earnestly speaking to bride Sharon Parkes and groom Paul Shipley. “It was an intrusion. We were furious. . . . My husband and I are both staunch Labor supporters,” said Phyllis Parkes, the bride’s mother. Currie said she had asked the family’s permission to go into the reception.

--The New Orleans Symphony has music for the ears of telephone users now that Dial-a-Symphony has joined such services as Dial-a-Romance and Dial-a-Joke. Symphony donors who call the number will hear 30 seconds of recorded classical music and a voice thanking them for supporting the orchestra. Then $25 will be added to their next phone bill. “It’s the easiest way possible to give money to the symphony,” said Anne O’Brien, spokeswoman for the orchestra, which is trying to erase a $3.8-million debt. The service will remain in effect at least 30 days and possibly up to 90 days. Those who dial the number accidentally will be reimbursed, she said.

--Anna Williams, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest living person, celebrated her 114th birthday in a Swansea nursing home in England with a glass of sherry. The former cook was hospitalized for just three days last year to receive a pacemaker.