People, Oct. 17, 1960

After long basking on the French Riviera, Somerset Maugham returned to London for a ten-week chill in Britain's foggy-foggy autumnal dews. At 86, Author Maugham is possibly as acidly opinionated as ever in his life. He himself never published anything that was censorably naughty, and he apparently has no patience with those who do, or did. Said he of Lady Chatterley's Lover: "Rather boring. As for the scatological parts, they didn't tell me anything I didn't know before." Of Lolita: "I read the first 74 pages. Then I was too bored to go on. Shocked? Damn it, it takes more than that to shock me. Nothing shocks me except cruelty." And what does he think of women these days? "As far as I can judge, with women it is all take and no give. There must be some women who are not liars. I do know a few women I am extremely fond of, but at my age one's attitude is rather different from a young man's." One London attraction: "A crematorium for my personal use" nearby.

Positive proof that Sweden's Cinemactress Ingrid Bergman is an admirer of France's favorite adult bedtime storyteller, supreme Triangulator Françoise Sagan, came last December when Ingrid agreed, without haggling about acting conditions or money, to star in a movie version of François latest bundly bagatelle, Do You Like Brahms? Francoise, visiting the movie's set at Paris' Boulogne Studios, obviously reciprocated the admiration.

All but signed on the dotted line as president of the National Association of Broadcasters was Florida's genial Demo cratic Governor LeRoy Collins whose $22,500-a-year term expires in January. After his effective chairing of the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles earlier this year, Collins hinted that he was open for an ambassadorial or Cabinet post if the Democrats win. Best guess as to why Collins would choose October's birdinhand instead of waiting for the iffy outcome of November's election: $100,000 a year.

At London's Covent Garden Royal Opera House, Swedish Soprano Birgit Nilsson wowed almost everyone—critics and public alike—with her passionate singing of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre. But one listener was unimpressed—Critic Peter Branscombe of London's Financial Times, which takes a passing interest in music. Pronounced Branscombe: "She is not yet the perfect Brünnhilde, but her sense of the stage is deepening." That one sour note was enough for Birgit to conclude that London is a town with rocks in its head. Cried she caustically: "I will not sing the part again in London until I'm more matured." But it was merely a fit of pique: at week's end Birgit was back on the London stage.

At an off-Broadway theater, sultry Singer Lena Home dropped in on opening night to catch her daughter, Gail Jones, 22, in a musical titled Valmouth and having to do with the antics of a mixed bag of aristocrats, plebeians and Far Eastern visitors at an English seaside resort. The critics thought the show "tired" and "a mess," but one allowed that Gail might ride more handsomely in another vehicle. Tersely observed the New York Times: "Gail may turn out to be a singer."