He always was an authoritarian film director and, on television, an acerbic mystery-show host. But advancing age has banked some of the old fire, and at 80, Sir Alfred Hitchcock is likely to be, as Chaucer put it, "a verray parfit gentil knight." Hitchcock's name as Knight Commander of the British Empire appeared on Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's honors list, the only show-biz personality knighted this year. Fittingly, he received formal notification of the honor at a ceremony in the commissary at Universal City Studios. Why, Hitchcock was asked, had it taken so long for Britain to honor such a distinguished son? Quipped Sir Hitch: "I suppose it was a matter of carelessness."

Given the choice, what dedicated runner would not prefer Adidas shoes to a funny hat on New Year's Eve, and water to champagne? That's why the midnight stroke of 1980 was also the signal for 1,648 runners to sprint away on an 8-km race through New York City's Central Park. Not surprisingly, the leader who cut the floodlit tape in 23 min. IS sec. was Speedster Bill Rodgers, who has won his home town's Boston Marathon three times and the five-borough New York Marathon four. Said he: "If you've got 1,600 people running with you, it's a real good time."

After ten years, it has become a capital custom: the turn-of-the-year list of what's In and what's Out, compiled by Washington Post Fashion Editor Nina S. Hyde. Among this year's Ins: plain white sheets, Mickey Mouse, new rock, Judith Krantz, squash, grapefruit juice, Jessica Savitch, bright pink lipstick, Oxford shirts, marriage, Paddington Bear, diaphragms, Ansel Adams, cone-heel shoes, Meryl Streep, cotton undies, gay waiters, wood-burning stoves, Bruce Springsteen and brown eye shadow. Out: living together, Billy Joel, disco, blue eye shadow, Elvis Costello, the Pill, basketball, Diane Keaton, stiletto heels, Irving Wallace, T shirts, crock pots, Snoopy, cowboy boots, Jane Pauley, nylon undies, open shirts and Mork.

"Theeeeere she is, Miss Ameeeerica." It won't be quite the same any more. Bert Parks, 65, for 25 years the mellow master of ceremonies whose rendition of that unguent ballad had become something of a late-summer tradition, has not been invited back for 1980's Miss America contest. Parks took the news hard: "I never thought they'd pull a trick like this. It's a little shabby, isn't it?" No reason was given for his ouster, nor was a successor announced. Some names have been dropped, such as those of Entertainer John Davidson, 38, as sincere as Bert but far younger, and Singer Mac Davis, 37.

On The Record

Olivia de Havilland, 63, only star of the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind who is still living: "I think there is a great deal to be said for survivors, since I appear to be one."

Fred Friendly, media critic and former CBS News president, on TV programming: "The news is the one thing networks can point to with pride. Everything else they do is crap, and they know it."

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