Joke’s on Court Jester, Who Gets the Royal Treatment

--Not everyone is amused by the court jester at the Royal Britain Exhibition in London. James Lovell, a 24-year-old actor, has been suspended as jester after he made unkind jokes about the royal family. Kim Keble-White, exhibition marketing director, said the museum’s managers would give Lovell his job back if he cut the offending material from his act. Before the suspension, Lovell had said he would not alter his performance. Executives of Unicorn Heritage, which owns Royal Britain, say Lovell was an excellent jester until pointing his comments beyond medieval royalty. “I said to James, ‘We’d love you to carry on, old chap, but it must be jokes of the period,’ ” Keble-White said. An example of Lovell’s offending jokes: “What is small, silent and lonely and lives in a stable? Captain Phillips.” That is a reference to shy, horse-loving Mark Phillips, whose separation from his wife, Princess Anne, was announced last week. Keble-White said he had received no complaints from Buckingham Palace or visitors to the exhibition. --Former President Richard M. Nixon has postponed a visit to China because of the political unrest there. Nixon, who made a historic visit to China in 1972, was to have traveled to China this month along with former Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, according to published reports. Nixon was invited by the government of China and the purpose of the trip was personal, Nixon spokesman John Taylor said. Roy Doumani, Simon’s business partner, said the trip has been delayed until after the first of the year. Simon leads an investment group that is interested in buying an interest in Xiamen International Bank.

--White House aide Ed Rogers became engaged via telephone while traveling on Air Force One. But the phone connection was so bad that Rogers needed a little operator assistance. Rogers, 30, was in flight when he received a message to call his girlfriend, Edwina (Ed) Clifton, 25. In an interview in the Birmingham News, Rogers--who is from Birmingham, Ala.,--said he called Clifton, a law student at Catholic University in Washington. He managed to hear her say she had received the engagement ring he sent, but he couldn’t hear whether she accepted. The Air Force One operator, who placed the call and had remained on the line to help maintain the connection, filled him in: “Sir, Miss Clifton advises that you are engaged to be married.” The wedding is set for Nov. 4 in Washington.