People, places & things in the news

*Index*
Steven Spielberg	Richard Branson	Steve Fossett
Spice Girls	Shakespeare	Royal Opera
Marv Albert	Whoopi Goldberg

Calling his work "a monument against oblivion," German President Roman Herzog awarded American filmmaker Steven Spielberg one of Germany's highest awards yesterday.

In presenting the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit to Spielberg, Herzog especially praised "Schindler's List," Spielberg's Academy award-winning story of a non-Jewish industrialist who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during World War II.

"No other movie has been watched or discussed by as many school classes in Germany," Herzog said in Berlin. "That is why we Germans are especially grateful to you for this film. It is a monument against oblivion."

Earlier, Spielberg visited a Berlin school where he stressed to about 100 high school students the importance of passing lessons of history on to new generations. He underscored the admonition by presenting a new computer CD-ROM with testimony from Holocaust survivors.

"I consider all these people not only to be victims of the Holocaust, but also teachers," Spielberg said of the four Holocaust survivors whose stories are included on the CD-ROM.

The CD-ROM, narrated by Winona Ryder and Leonardo DiCaprio, was created by Spielberg's Shoah Visual History Foundation, an archive of filmed interviews with Holocaust survivors. The project has gathered nearly 50,000 interviews in four years.

Virgin boss Richard Branson is joining forces with his arch-rival – Chicago millionaire Steve Fossett – to try once more to pilot a hot air balloon around the world.

Branson, the flamboyant tycoon whose Virgin company name adorns everything from record stores and clothing to an airline, has failed to accomplish the feat in four tries. Fossett's latest attempt to circumnavigate the globe in a balloon ended last month with a 29,000-foot plunge into the Coral Sea.

The two men, along with Swedish balloonist Pers Lindstrand, plan to take off in November in the Virgin Global Challenger. For the first time, they will have a backup balloon in case their main balloon is damaged.

Branson's previous attempts have been hampered by weather. The only time he managed to take off – in January 1997 – his balloon crash-landed in the Algerian desert.

What do the Spice Girls, Shakespeare and the Royal Opera have in common?

They are all going to be featured in a new public-relations campaign aimed at erasing Britain's stodgy image.

"(The world) does not always think us quite as wonderful as we think we are," a government committee called Panel 2000 acknowledged Thursday in London as it launched the makeover.

The plan includes revamping British embassies, rewarding citizens who put across the best of Britain abroad, and sprucing up the "gateways to Britain," particularly Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett said Panel 2000 was "very keen to link together artistic activities and commercial activities."

Art, innovative science, dance, sport, computer games and films are just as important as heritage, theater and classical music, he said.

Marv Albert's fiancee said "Yessssss!"

Heather Faulkiner, 40, wed Albert at a penthouse suite of a New York City hotel Wednesday.

Among the 50 guests were the president of Madison Square Garden and NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Ms. Faulkiner stood by the 57-year-old broadcaster throughout the sex scandal that cost him his job with NBC.

Albert was accused of biting a woman and forcing her to have sex in a Virginia hotel room. He pleaded guilty to assault, was fired from NBC and resigned from the MSG Network, which broadcasts New York Knicks games.

However, MSG recently rehired Albert to do radio play-by-play of Knick games and anchor a nightly TV sports show.

Whoopi Goldberg will be telling a few lies on a 1990s version of an old game show.

Ms. Goldberg will appear on the new "Hollywood Squares" show, which will premiere on Sept. 14.

"I'm tired of making movies on demand. I got very manic and started doing like three, four or five of them a year, you know, for like 10 years," she said in a CBS "This Morning" interview to be broadcast next week.

"There should be a Whoopi Channel because every time I turn the TV on, one of my movies or some movie I don't even remember making is on."

Contestants on the show try to win squares on the tic-tac-toe board by guessing whether a celebrity is giving a truthful answer to a question. Also scheduled to appear are Rosie O'Donnell and Rita Rudner.

-- Compiled from wire reports