Next Time, Save Some for the Boss

By Janice Castro

Turning up late for a key diplomatic meeting is bad form. But when British Defense Secretary Tom King and his Russian counterpart, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, finally popped into 10 Downing Street last month, their sheepish explanation took bosses John Major and Boris Yeltsin by surprise. Seems they'd been up till all hours sampling a precious case of 1939 Crimean champagne. Major exclaimed at the extravagance, but Yeltsin just seemed to feel left out. Said he: "Good God! I thought all of that vintage had been drunk by Khrushchev!"

With reporting by Wendy Cole