While preparing for the rigors of outer space, the nation's seven Project Mercury Astronauts (TIME, April 20) also familiarized themselves with the hazards of plain water, which they will not find on any lunar expedition but might encounter on their return to earth. The space pioneers, learning how to cope with an impromptu dunking in underwater-survival school at a Navy base in Norfolk: Air Force Captain Leroy G. Cooper Jr., 32, Navy Lieut. Commander Walter M. Schirra Jr., 36, Navy Lieut. Malcolm S. Carpenter, 33, Navy Lieut. Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr., 35, Air Force Captain Donald K. Slayton, 35, Marine Lieut. Colonel John H. Glenn Jr., 37, Air Force Captain Virgil I. Grissom, 33.

Interviewed in Florida, Singer Pat Boone, sometime lay Church of Christ preacher, allowed that show business is a fine calling for an old (24) codger like himself, but "I wouldn't recommend it for young people--especially girls. If they have a very special talent, maybe."

France's dressmakers almost burst their seams with envy at the news that the Paris fashion house founded by the late Christian Dior will haul its entire summer collection to Moscow early in June. The House of Dior, in a cultural exposition unparalleled since the days of the czars, will be presented to Soviet bigwigs and Moscow's diplomatic corps, then move into a big public hall, play to proletarians (admission: $3 top) for six days. Asked by a Dior representative if the group could bring along the normal retinue of aides, hairdressers and some 120 models, a Soviet spokesman responded with a warm bear hug: "Take everything along! Take even a priest if you wish!"

Officials of a British post office in Farnham, Surrey, disclosed that months have passed since their most famous old-age pensioner dropped by to collect his weekly government check (basic pension: $7). Odds were not that Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, 71, was forgetful about his stipend. Instead, with his memoirs (TIME, Nov. 3) selling handsomely (some 200,000 copies so far) and his "half pay" as an old soldier, Monty doubtless decided that the trip to the post office is no longer worthwhile: pension checks are reduced in accordance with the pensioner's outside income.

In Britain, Virginia-born Lady Astor turned So, practiced some golf shots, fired some verbal salvos to prove that her mind and tongue are keen as ever. On British politics: "I advise Tories to vote Tory. Socialism won't work unless you love your neighbors. I find that so many people don't love their neighbors." On longevity: "Years ago I thought old age would be dreadful because I would not be able to do all the things I would want to do. Now I find there is nothing I want to do, after all."

On a big Hollywood sound stage, Fleet Admiral William F. ("Bull") Halsey, 76, peered through his thick-lensed glasses, did an approving doubletake. Object of his scrutiny: Cinemactor James Cagney, 54, his natural resemblance to Halsey startlingly enhanced by makeup, playing Bull Halsey in a movie titled The Gallant Hours, which will depict the Bull's role in winning the Battle of Guadalcanal. Said Cagney: "This film is a labor of love and gratitude to a man who, when the chips were down, performed for us.''

The June issue of Harper's Magazine appeared with a mystical, low-keyed little fishing tale by a brand-new fictioneer. Author of The Great Fish of Como: onetime (1949-53) Secretary of State Dean Acheson, 66, whose rare good fortune it was to have his very first effort published by the first periodical that saw it.

The British Admiralty rechristened a fleet refueling ship, formerly H.M.S. Tide-race, which will now sail as H.M.S. Tide Flow. The Admiralty stoutly insisted that the change was made because Tiderace kept being confused with other tankers of similar name; below-decks scuttlebutt was that puckish sailors had insisted on rhyming Tiderace with the monicker of dimpled Schmalz Piano Pounder Liberace.

Air Force Brigadier General Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr., 46, son of the Army's first Negro general officer, was nominated by Dwight Eisenhower for promotion to two-star rank. As a major general, poker-backed West Pointer Davis, now deputy chief of staff at Air Force advance headquarters in West Germany, would become the highest-ranking Negro in U.S. armed forces annals.

British Author Aldous (Brave New World Revisited) Huxley, 64, journeyed from his California home to Manhattan, collected $1,000 and a medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for "having done the best work of our time in . . . the novel of ideas." In his acceptance speech Huxley modestly disclaimed genius, alluding to an observation by short-necked Honore de Balzac that most men of genius have short necks. Duly noting his own long neck, lanky Novelist Huxley asserted: "Genius, after all, is an alliance of head with heart, and the shorter the neck, the closer that alliance!"

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