$40,000,000 Renege

Britain's No. 1 philanthropist, Viscount Nuffield, 65, complained some five years ago that his good works had caused him five times as much trouble as his business. Having given away some $60,000,000 he swore he would give no more. But last week he headed into more trouble: for scientific and medical research, public health, social studies, and "the care and comfort of aged people" he created a $40,000,000 trust fund. Peacetime automaker (Morris, Wolseley), Lord Nuffield is now one of Britain's main armorers, also one of her most unreconstructed individualists. Chief financial angel of Oxford University, he was once so moved by Oxonians' eloquent thanks to him at a platform ceremony that he abruptly rose to his feet and promised another $3,750,000. In announcing his charitable trust last week the Viscount took pains to point out that private enterprise had made it possible; perhaps pondering the socially planned future, he further observed that such "spontaneous contributions . . . are, and must always remain, a vital factor in the life of the nation."

The Warpath

Cinemactor Robert Taylor, 31, amateur flyer, joined the Naval Air Force in Los Angeles as a junior grade lieutenant, to train at Corpus Christi.

Knute Rockne Jr., 23-year-old son of the late Notre Dame coach, joined the Army in Toledo.

William Clay Ford, 17, youngest son of Edsel, joined the Naval Air Force as a cadet in Detroit, will go on active duty when he graduates from Hotchkiss. Al ready in the armed forces are his two brothers, Corporal Benson, Naval Lieut. Henry II.

Honoris Causa

To Lieut. General Hugh A. Drum, for forwarding to General Douglas Mac-Arthur, went a war bonnet from the Indian Confederation of America. Same week MacArthur broke into the British Who's Who. To Joseph Stalin (who already has a bonnet from the Indian Confederation), the new Who's Who gave eight times as many lines as he had last year (5 to 40). Other newcomers besides MacArthur: Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kaishek, Harry Hopkins, Lend-Lease Coordinator W. Averell Harriman, Admiral Harold R. Stark. Donald Nelson was in, but not Leon Henderson; Edward R. Stettinius was in, but not Henry Kaiser. Still in: Adolf Hitler; still out: Premier Hideki Tojo.

Past Masters

Arthur Guy Empey, 59, famed private who wrote World War I's best-selling Over The Top, was rediscovered by the camera's eye: he works on the "graveyard shift" as a guard at Vega Aircraft's plant in Burbank.

Jim Thorpe, 54, famed Indian football star of 30 years ago, was "somewhat improved" after a heart attack at Ford's River Rouge plant, where he has worked as a guard for the past year.

New York City's Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine got another tip on the whereabouts of Judge Joseph Force Crater, famously missing since 1930. To Valentine came a postcard confiding: "Judge Crater is running a bingo game in Africa."

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