Prince Charles Is an Odd Fellow

Eccentrics aren’t crazy. They simply are more creative than everybody else, said Dr. David Weeks, principal clinical psychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland, who interviewed 130 eccentrics and found only one insane person among them. He has turned his findings into a book called “Eccentrics: The Scientific Investigation,” to be published in May. Weeks, an American who has lived in Britain since 1975, said both the United States and Britain seem to have more eccentrics than other countries, possibly because they have the strongest traditions of free speech. One of the more famous eccentrics, Weeks said, is Prince Charles, citing his interest in unconventional medicine, his habit of talking to plants, his solitary trips to meditate and his peevish outbursts against modern architecture. “He’d probably be a lot more eccentric if he weren’t royalty,” the psychologist said. “That probably restricts him.” The eccentrics Weeks met included a man who has lived in a cave for eight years and another who scales office buildings in a pink elephant costume. Eccentrics tend to be happier than most people because they don’t take themselves too seriously, Weeks said.

--Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee A. Iacocca, most recently seen in the auto maker’s television advertisements during the Winter Olympic Games, is back in print. “Talking Straight,” Iacocca’s second book, will be published June 1 by Bantam Books Hardcover, with an initial print run of at least 500,000 copies. Focusing on Iacocca’s “previously untold life experiences” as son, husband, father and friend, the new book hopes to follow in the monumentally successful footsteps of “Iacocca: An Autobiography.” That book, also from Bantam, became one of the all-time best-selling books when it sold more than 2.6 million copies in hard-cover and more than 3.5 million in paperback. As he did with his first book, Iacocca said he will donate his proceeds to charity. “Talking Straight” is co-written by New York Times reporter Sonny Kleinfield.

--Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn says he may skip Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade because he and his wife have been invited to Dublin by Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey to help celebrate that city’s millennium. City Councilor James Kelly, of South Boston, who is a vocal Flynn critic, said he believes that Flynn might skip the parade to avoid another embarrassing incident, such as the jeers he faced at a recent hearing on his plan to desegregate housing projects in South Boston.