New York - John Lennon's scribbled lyrics to the song Give Peace A Chance are going up for auction and are expected to fetch up to 600,000 dollars, auction house Christie's said Thursday. Lennon jotted down the famous words in 1969 during his famous Bed- In, during which he stayed in bed with Yoko Ono for eight days at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
He gave the notes to 16-year-old schoolgirl Gail Renard, who had snuck in to the hotel to ask for an interview for her school paper.
"These things will be worth something some day," she quoted Lennon as telling her, in an interview with The New York Post.
At first Renard displayed the lyrics in a frame on the wall but later took measures to better safeguard them.
"I really was getting nervous, and they went to live in a vault for a while," she said. "And I thought, that's ridiculous, because nobody is enjoying them now. They became a responsibility. I'd rather somebody else enjoy them."
The bidding will be July 10 at the South Kensington Christie's in London, and the now-framed lyric sheet could fetch her up to 600,000 dollars.
"Things like this never come up on the auction market," said Helen Hall, head of Christie's popular-culture department.
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R Kelly's trial set to start
New York - Singer R Kelly is set to go on trial Friday on child sex charges, six years after the case first broke.
His attorneys have petitioned a Chicago court for another postponement of the long-awaited trial of the R&B superstar, saying "a torrent of publicity" has surrounded the case, and appealed for a postponement in order for Kelly to have a fair trial.
Legal experts say the motion is unlikely to be granted, and that jury selection will begin Friday.
Kelly is standing trial for having sex with a minor and videotaping it. He faces charges of child pornography for the video, which was reportedly made between January 1998 and November 2000.
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Liv Tyler splits from rocker husband
New York - Actress Liv Tyler and her husband, British rocker Royston Langdon, have decided to separate, People magazine reported Thursday.
"Liv Tyler and Royston Langdon have confirmed their separation," the report quoted a spokesperson for the couple as saying. "They remain good friends and devoted parents to their son Milo and are requesting that their family's privacy be respected at this time."
Tyler, 30, and Langdon, 36, wed in 2003 in a private ceremony at a villa in the Caribbean. Their son, Milo, was born in December 2004.
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Country star Arnold dies
Los Angeles - Country music star Eddy Arnold, who pioneered country's crossover into pop music, died Thursday at age 89, according to an announcement.
One of the most successful country stars in history, he had dozens of chart-topping hits, headed by his 1965 smash, Make the World Go Away. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year, he was the first recipient of the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association.
Other hits included Cattle Call, The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me, Anytime, Bouquet of Roses, What's He Doing in My World?, I Want to Go With You, Somebody Like Me, Lonely Again and Turn the World Around.
"I sing a little country, I sing a little pop, and I sing a little folk, and it all goes together," said Arnold, who recorded most his hits with guitarist Chet Atkins.
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Rapper DMX charged for road racing
Los Angeles - Rapper DMX has been arrested and charged with road-racing after speeding his car on an Arizona desert road, where he was clocked at more than 160 kilometers per hour.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was caught on a speed camera and charged with criminal speeding, racing on a highway, reckless driving, two counts of endangerment and driving with a suspended license.
He has previously been arrested for offences ranging from possession of drugs to neglecting his dogs.
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Chaplin granddaughter to star in William Tell movie
Los Angeles - Swiss actress Kiera Chaplin, granddaughter of silent-movie icon Charlie Chaplin, is to star in a 60-million-dollar project based on the legend of William Tell, Variety reported Thursday.
The movie will be based on Friedrich von Schiller's 1805 play about the life of the 14th-century Swiss hero who, as legend has it, was forced to shoot an apple off his son's head to win his freedom from Austrian occupiers.
The film will shoot in Lucerne and other regions in Switzerland, with release scheduled for 2010.
