Foreign News: NEW BRITISH AMBASSADOR

Appointed last week as Britain's Ambassador to the U.S., to succeed retiring Sir Oliver Franks: SIR ROGER MELLOR MAKINS.

Born: London, on Feb. 3, 1904, the eldest son of Boer War hero Brigadier General Sir Ernest Makins.

Education: Winchester and Oxford. A top honors man (history) in 1925, Sir Roger is the 14th Oxonian to serve as British envoy in Washington.

Family: Married, in Florida in 1934, to Alice Davis, daughter of the late Dwight F. Davis, Secretary of War in Coolidge's Cabinet and donor of the famed Davis Cup for international tennis; six children (four girls, two boys), the two youngest of whom will accompany their parents to Washington while the others stay on at school in Britain. A Makins theory on big families: "The second child is the Rubicon, if you can cross number two, the rest are easy. They raise themselves."

Career: Veteran career diplomat and topflight economist; joined Foreign Office in 1928, has served since in the U.S., Scandinavia, Africa, the U.N. and as delegate to numberless international conferences as expert on economics and North American affairs; Britain's Deputy Under Secretary of State since 1948; chairman of ten-man council on British atomic policy; Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George since 1949; accompanied both Attlee and Churchill on their recent trips to Washington, where he himself has served a total of five years.

Hobbies. A 500-acre farm at Sherfield-on-Loddon, Hampshire, where, says Sir Roger, Lady Makins is "administrative boss" while he is "a sort of hired hand who drives the tractor and pulls weeds."

Personality: Shy, modest; in his own words: "a very ordinary person" who likes Americans "because they are such a friendly people."