Aging Alice Visiting Wonderland

Charlotte Hughes is living proof that there’s plenty of time to do everything, if you plan it properly. A teacher for 47 years, she didn’t marry until she was 60 (the marriage lasted 40 years). Now, to celebrate her 110th birthday, she is paying her first visit to the United States. Not as an ordinary tourist, mind you. Because of her status as Britain’s oldest citizen, Hughes was flown to New York on the Concorde (she was 26 when the Wright brothers flew their first powered flight in 1903), put up in the Royal Suite at the Waldorf Astoria, and is generally being given VIP treatment during her four-day stay. Her visit was to include an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” a sightseeing tour of the Big Apple in a stretch Rolls-Royce, a reception in her honor at the British Consulate, and a meeting with New York Mayor Edward I. Koch. Hughes, who lives in Marske, 250 miles north of London, said: “It’s like being Alice in Wonderland. In fact, I feel like a real celebrity.”

--Pssst! Wanna hot tip? The latest numbers being circulated on the gaming floor at Resorts International Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., won’t guarantee you the jackpot, but they might help you keep a few bucks in your pocket. It’s a hot line telephone number for compulsive gamblers. Casino executives said the decision to post the number at casino entrances and near the credit cage was a matter of “social responsibility.” “We don’t feel we’ll be harming the casino industry by doing this,” said Steve Norton, executive vice president of Resorts International. He pointed out that “casino gambling was not the start of compulsive gambling.” But he conceded: “We have made it easier for compulsive gamblers when we opened casinos and race tracks 365 days a year.” New Jersey race tracks already promote the toll-free number.

--Kanda the gorilla can play like a human child, walk like a man and once even beat experienced sportswriters in a contest to pick National Football League winners, compiling a 33-22-1 record over four weeks. But Kanda, who was raised by humans after his mother died, had some problems mastering the art of being an ape. So the Dallas Zoo resident was packed off to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colo., to learn to act like a primate. And wouldn’t you know it, after six months at Monkey See Monkey Do U., Kanda’s the star pupil. “He caught on very quickly,” said zoo official Karen Murray. “He has shifted his need for human attention to attention from other gorillas.” The goal is to teach 4-year-old Kanda to ape the social graces necessary to breed when he reaches sexual maturity.