On the Record: Feb. 15, 1982

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Perhaps only a tribute to Singer Marian Anderson, 79, could have brought together those operatic rivals Shirley Verrett, 50, and Grace Bumbry, 45, for a performance on the same stage. The first black person to sing with the Metropolitan Opera, Anderson has been inspiration and mentor to the two younger singers. Both, in fact, are Marian Anderson Scholarship winners. And so Verrett and Bumbry, who have occasionally flung verbal darts at each other, put aside their simmering feud long enough to participate in a rousing 80th-birthday tribute to Anderson last week at New York's Carnegie Hall. Since the two women and Carnegie Hall are much in demand, the birthday celebration had to be held on a date that fit everyone's schedule; Anderson's birthday is actually on Feb. 27. No problem, said Anderson, adding, "It's not everyone who gets to celebrate two birthdays in one year."

The official dinner at the White House was given for visiting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 53, and his wife Suzie, but the principal topic of discussion was china. "President Reagan, Mrs. Reagan, dear friends," said the Egyptian leader, rising to propose a toast. "Before I start, I would like to first congratulate Mrs. Reagan for the new china, which is very elegant and very beautiful." Mubarak, in his diplomatic way, was referring of course to Nancy Reagan's celebrated $209,508, 220-place, 4,372-piece set of Lenox china, paid for last year by the Maryland-based Knapp Foundation. Used for the first time last week, the new dinner service, with a raised presidential gold seal in the center of the plates and a red-and-gold lattice border, was accompanied by Morgantown crystal from the Kennedy White House and vermeil flatware purchased during the Monroe Administration. When one fretful guest reminded President Reagan of a Greek custom of breaking plates, Ronnie smiled, then said of such guests, "Well, they will either never be invited, or we'll just use the old china."

An overwhelmingly popular monarch in an egalitarian age, Queen Elizabeth II, 55, passed a milestone last week—her 30th anniversary as Queen of the United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth.

The Queen celebrated her pearl jubilee in the company of her husband, Prince Philip, 60, and her corgis, a breed Elizabeth made famous when she took to it in the days when she was a princess. Although she has outlasted all but ten British monarchs, Her Majesty is still 34 years shy of the mark set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria (1837-1901). If Elizabeth does set a new record, it will not be realized until the year 2014. Heir Apparent Prince Charles, 33, would then be 67.