Golf's Man of the Year is that laugh-a-minute duffer who came closer to breaking pro Doug Sanders' skull than he ever came to breaking par. Spiro Agnew, honored at the Ail-American Collegiate Golf Dinner for his participation in charity tournaments, characterized himself as "the Harold Stassen of golf." Explained Agnew: "I don't win very often, but I'm always ready to tee off again."

Two society pianists belted out Rodgers and Hart show tunes and one of the guests--those present swore to conceal her identity--performed an acceptable cancan. Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth loved it. That party was staged in Manhattan more than a decade ago. This year's birthday celebration, "a biggish affair with family and close friends," according to the palace's description, will be one fully befitting a royal septuagenarian. Seventy is stately and sugary, according to Cecil Beaton's official photo portrait, which shows the smiling Queen Mother in diamonds and pearls against a backdrop of flowering rhododendron.

Wet-eyed, the rich voice faltering just a bit, Chet Huntley said farewell after 14 years on NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report. "Be patient and have courage," he told his viewers, advising them that "there will be better and happier news some day--if we work at it." NBC provided for Huntley's ride into the sunset of his Montana resort by presenting him with a horse, and that offered David Brinkley a chance to close on a lighter note. "From now on, when somebody stops me in the street and says, 'Aren't you Chet Huntley?' " said Brinkley, "I'll say, 'No, ma'am, he's the one out West on a horse.' "

Several hundred perspiring contadini and townspeople thronged the parish church in the southern Italian village of Cellino San Marco to shout "Autograph, autograph!" and to see a local boy, pop singer Al Bano, 27, marry Tyrone Power's daughter Romina, 18. The lovely bride kept an apprehensive eye on her mother, who had threatened not to attend the wedding. Power's widow, still spirited Linda Christian, 45, had referred to her singing son-in-law as "nothing but an ape with eyeglasses."

Who takes time out from running a $1.7 billion corporation to pilot a soapbox racer? Robert Hansberger, 50, the president of Boise Cascade Corp., for one. At the wheel of his racer Tree, Hansberger swooped down the ramp past two middle-aged competitors to record his second straight triumph in the "Big Boys" division of the annual Treasure Valley Soapbox Derby in Boise, Idaho. For senior racers who may hope to emulate him, the timber industrialist has sage advice: "As in many things in life, maintain a low silhouette."

His Lordship Jack the Ripper, if you please. Though much of the legend surrounding London's infamous sex killer of 1888 arises from the continuing mystery of his identity, a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons now claims that the police knew who he was all along. In an article prepared for Criminologist magazine, say London press reports, Thomas Stowell asserts that Scotland Yard kept Jack's identity secret for a peculiarly British reason: the mad murderer came from an aristocratic family. Certain as he is of his facts, the doctor declines to reveal Lord Jack's identity. Think of the family.

A hapless Verona policeman once ticketed a misparked car belonging to hot-tempered Diva Maria Callas. His action touched off a string of unearthly trills and cadenzas. The soprano was fined for only a traffic violation, but Opera Manager Alberto Tantini was able to fix things with Police Chief Aldo Ballarini. A third gentleman of Verona, the magistrate, saw it all quite differently. He initiated a new charge against Callas of insulting a public official and even escalated the affair by accusing Tantini and Ballarini of bearing false witness and failing to report a misdemeanor. All that happened back in 1952. Last week, when an examining magistrate declared the case null and void because the statute of limitations had run out, not one "Che hello!" of triumph issued from the Aegean hideaway where Callas is vacationing with Film Maker Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Big Duke made 174 pictures before he reached the winners' circle with True Grit. Big Roman made it on his first try. The three-year-old thoroughbred, John Wayne's only race horse, made his debut with a convincing two-length victory in the fifth race at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, Calif. Big Roman ran the six furlongs in a creditable 1:10 3/5, opening speculation as to what he might do with his 250-lb. boss in the saddle.

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