A new book claims British actor David Niven unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in a fit of sadness in 1946. The biography written by Michael Munn says the late British actor's suicide attempt was thwarted when the firearm he was using failed to work.

Turner Classic Movies has announced plans to remember World War I with a special Memorial Day film series. Eli Paul, vice president of the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo., has agreed to serve as co-host with TCM's Robert Osborne for the evening, which will feature screenings of the classic films Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan; The Dawn Patrol, starring Errol Flynn and David Niven; The Fighting 69th, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien; The Lost Patrol, starring Victor McLaglen and Boris Karloff; and The Big Parade, starring John Gilbert, Renee Adoree and Hobart Bosworth. World War I served as the setting for some truly great films, and we are proud to be able to present five such movies for Memorial Day, Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM, said in a statement.

By Anonymous JUST ME by Sheila Hancock Bloomsbury, Pounds 18.99, pp. 288, ISBN 9780747588825 Pounds 15.19 (plus Pounds 2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 MY WORD IS MY BOND by Roger Moore Michael O'Mara Books, Pounds 18.99, pp.

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Chevy Chase opened the Oscars in 1988 with the line: "Good evening, Hollywood phonies," and never hosted the show again.

Televangelist Pat Robertson's flip-flop on his fantasy moment as an international assassin reminds me of a famous, if possibly apocryphal, story about actor David Niven as told by Christopher Buckley.