
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993                   TAG: 9307210235
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PEOPLE

Singer Elton John plans to auction his stack of pop records to raise money for people with AIDS. Sotheby's in London is accepting sealed bids through July 29 for his collection - 25,000 albums and 23,000 singles - with the money to go to a British trust. He hopes to raise $149,000 to $223,500.

Fiji is blowing out the candles on Prince Charles.

The only country in the world that celebrates the British royal heir's birthday with a national holiday says the tradition has come of age.

The birthday will be marked for the last time Nov. 15, the day after Charles turns 45.

"Prince Charles is no longer the symbol of greatness he was several years ago and the British crown no longer has the shine it had in previous years," the Fiji Times said in an editorial this week.

The prince's birthday has been celebrated in Fiji since 1970, when he took part in independence celebrations marking the end of British colonial rule, which began in 1874.

Business leaders recently asked the government to reduce some of Fiji's 13 public holidays as a way on increasing productivity.

The great flood of 1993 has a bundle of celebrities streaming into Iowa.

Tony Orlando, Jim Stafford, Wayne Newton and Andy Williams, all of whom have theaters in Branson, Mo., plan to hand out bottled water to flood victims in Des Moines, Iowa, today. The city's water works was knocked out of commission last week.

The Ozark Mountain Caring Flood Relief project is hoping to raise $100,000 and deliver 100,000 gallons of bottled water to flood victims, said coordinator Jan Eiserman.

Other celebrities are expected to join the relief effort, which Orlando called a "truly American gesture."

by CNB