DECEMBER 18, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 24

Milestones
BY PENNY CAMPBELL

DIED. COLIN COWDREY, 67, English cricketer who was one of the game's greatest batsmen; in Angmering, southeast England. Cowdrey started playing for Kent in 1950, and made his test debut in 1954. He was named captain of the English national side in 1959. By the time he retired in 1976, he had notched up 114 tests and a then-record 7,624 runs. Awarded a knighthood in 1992, he was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997.

DIED. HENCK ARRON, 64, former Suriname Prime Minister who led the country to independence from the Dutch; in Alphen aan de Rijn, the Netherlands. Arron became Prime Minister in 1973, two years before independence, but was ousted in a 1980 coup. Jailed for two years, he became Vice President after democracy was restored in 1987 and retired four years later.

DIED. WERNER KLEMPERER, 80, actor who won two Emmy awards for his role as the hapless German prison-camp commandant Colonel Klink in the 1960s American TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes; in New York City. Klemperer, a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany as a teenager, also had many stage and film credits and often appeared as a narrator with symphony orchestras.

DIED. GWENDOLYN BROOKS, 83, poet who became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize; in Chicago. Brooks, whose work chronicled the condition of black life in America, wrote hundreds of poems and more than 20 books. Her many awards included a 1949 Pulitzer for Annie Allen, a volume of poems about the tragedy of black life in Chicago.

RESIGNED. PETROS SYNADINOS, 47, as general manager of Greece's 2004 Olympics organizing committee, in yet another blow to the problem-plagued event; in Athens. An architect who took the position only in June, Synadinos had expressed frustration with government red tape that slowed progress in planning the Games. His departure follows that of dozens of other officials over the last six months.

RESIGNED. JOHN HUME, 63, leader of Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party (sdlp) and joint winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, from the province's Assembly; in Belfast. Hume, whose sdlp is the province's largest mainly Catholic party, played a key role in the peace talks that led to the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that shares power between unionists and nationalists.

SENTENCED. EDMOND POPE, 54, American businessman, to 20 years in prison for espionage; in Moscow. A retired naval intelligence officer, Pope was the first U.S. citizen in 40 years to be convicted of spying in Russia. Though he bought blueprints of a high-speed underwater torpedo from a Russian academic, Pope insists the technology wasn't secret. The U.S. government is asking for leniency on humanitarian grounds, as Pope has bone cancer. A Russian presidential commission has also urged President Vladimir Putin to pardon him.

THEORIES OF RELATIVITY

ENDURANCE TEST When it comes to naming their albums, musicians' imaginations are limited. Time, on the other hand, is elastic. Though all the following artists named their albums Forever, they exhibited vastly different degrees of staying power. " A couple live their lives on the Net
• Last week the spice girls' not-so-anticipated comeback album slid to No. 131 on the charts after debuting last month at No. 39.
• Puff Daddy's 1999 oeuvre went platinum within four weeks and hung on to Top 40 status for two more months.
• The Wu-Tang Clan's multi-platinum 1997 venture stayed on Billboard's radar for 41 weeks.
• Bobby Brown's 1997 solo album debuted at a dismal No. 61 and was off the Top 200 after three weeks.
• Kool & the Gang's 1986 LP spent 42 weeks on the charts, earning the band a gold record, which wasn't enough to keep the lead singer from pursuing a solo career.
• Relative upstart leticia walker has yet to garner any attention or chart position with her recent R.-and-B. release. Perhaps a catchier title next time?