Untold thousands of U.S. radios were tuned in during the small hours of the morning of Dec. 11, 1936, to hear a relay of the strained voice of handsome King Edward VIII of England announce that he was abdicating his throne because he could not go on "without the help and support of the woman I love." Soon untold millions of U.S. TV sets will be tuned to ABC's version of the royal romance --called, inevitably, For the Woman I Love. Richard Chamberlain and Faye Dunaway make creditable lookalikes for Edward of England and Wallis Simpson of Baltimore--now Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Superrocker Mick Jogger of the Rolling Stones used to sing one song called Ruby Tuesday. But it was a Wednesday evening when Mick went to the dentist with a small ruby and asked him to insert it in his upper right incisor (one of the few sound teeth he has left). Now he is not so sure he likes the effect and is thinking of having it removed.

"Holy sex education!" as Batman's Robin might say. Unitarian Universalist Sunday schools are showing twelve-to-14-year-olds explicit film strips on varieties of sexual experience, and Mrs. George Romney, Mormon wife of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, doesn't like it one bit. "What can twelve-to-14-year-olds do with that?" she asked a meeting of Washington's 20th Century Club. "We are denying them the whole knowledge of love and showing them only the animalistic characteristics. Why, when we know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when we know what happened to the Roman Empire, do we believe that we can escape that kind of end?"

The flirtation of the week took place at the Russian embassy in Washington, which gave a reception for Culture Minister Yekaterina Furtseva --61, blonde, and the highest-ranking woman in the Soviet Union. Straight from the airport with a fresh San Clemente suntan, Presidential Adviser Henry Kissinger came to meet her. Someone asked if Kissinger would have the same success with the ladies in Moscow that he does in Hollywood. Furtseva (twinkling at him over the vodka and caviar): Bolshe (Bigger). Kissinger (twinkling back): I hope you have a heart specialist in Moscow. Furtseva: Don't worry. I am surprised--I had heard you were ten feet tall. Kissinger: That's because my staff has to approach me on their knees. Both (toasting): To friendship, real friendship.

Will Painter Andrew Wyeth play Gilbert Stuart to Richard Nixon's George Washington? Yes, said Wyeth, he had been asked to paint the President's formal portrait. No, said a White House spokesman, no decision had been made. Well, said Wyeth, "I'll stick to painting weeds in Brandywine Valley." Wait, said Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler, "Wyeth is the man President Nixon would like to do his portrait when the time comes." But the time will not come while Nixon is in office. "There is nothing I despise more than having to sit for a formal portrait," the President told TIME. "It's torture. There's nothing to do but just sit there."

A poetry reading is one of the Japanese imperial household's ancient New Year ceremonies. This year's reading, just held, included poems by Emperor Hirohito, Empress Nagako and ten commoners--all composed in the 31-syllable waka style and dealing with the subject of mountains. An unofficial translation of Hirohito's entry, inspired by a plane ride over the Alps during his recent European tour: "Over the vast sky of Europe/ I soared up and high/ Catching a glimpse of Alpine ridges/ Rising above the sea of clouds."

What does Actress Paulette Goddard smell like? She informed Columnist Eugenia Sheppard that her late husband, Novelist Erich Maria Remarque, had told her, "You smell like pencil shavings."

The late Maurice Chevalier, whose onstage eye was permanently cocked at a pretty girl, kept whatever real-life romances he may have had well out of public sight and mind. Now the word from his close friends is that after the tax man has taken half of Chevalier's estimated $5,000,000 estate, about 40% of the remainder will go to one Odette Melier, a widowed former actress whom Chevalier met in 1952 and who now lives in an apartment he found for her near his home. Said Mme. Melier: "Maurice Chevalier was a marvelous grandfather for my little girl, Pascale. He was a marvelous friend to me. I am in mourning."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.