Scotland penguin receives knighthood

Critters

Call him "Sir"

Nils Olav, a 3-foot tall penguin at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland and mascot for the elite Norwegian King's Guard, was knighted Friday with all the pomp and circumstance befitting royalty. The ceremony began Friday morning with speeches and fanfare before Nils arrived under escort of the King's Guard Color Detachment. Nils reviewed the troops lined up outside the penguin enclosure at the zoo, waddling down the row of uniformed soldiers, occasionally stopping to crane his neck and peer inquisitively at their crisp uniforms before being guided forward by his handler. Nils then was knighted by British Maj. Gen. Euan Loudon on behalf of Norway's King Harald V. Loudon dropped the king's sword on both sides of Nils's black-and-white frame, and a badge symbolizing his knighthood was attached to his flipper.

People

"Office" actor charged

Prosecutors have filed felony drug charges against actor Craig Phillip Robinson, 36, best known for his role as Darryl Philbin on NBC's "The Office." According to documents released Friday, police in Culver City, Calif., arrested Robinson on June 29 on suspicion of possessing MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, and methamphetamine. He was released the same day after posting bond, jail records show. Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Robinson with two felony counts of drug possession and one count of being under the influence of illegal drugs. Robinson's publicist declined to comment Friday.

Upcoming

A weekend wedding?

The Ellen DeGeneres-Portia de Rossi wedding will happen this weekend, according to Usmagazine.com, which reports that the couple plan a "small, intimate ceremony with only a few close friends and family."

She'll be baaaack

Britney Spears, who was lambasted for her performance at last year's MTV Video Music Awards, will return to the Sept. 7 event: She has been nominated for video of the year for "Piece of Me."

Update

Delay irks Potter fans

A day after Warner Bros. said it would be delaying the Nov. 21 release of its sixth Harry Potter film to July 17, 2009, to take advantage of skimpy competition in the summer, fans of the popular franchise expressed their ire on the Internet on Friday. Thousands signed online petitions, others organized boycotts and protests and others expressed their reaction with tears or clenched fists. At Petitionspot.com, more than 12,000 fans had signed a demand that "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," in postproduction in London, be returned to the long-promoted November date. The move was made to take advantage of an open weekend in Hollywood's busy summer season, said Alan Horn, Warner Bros. president and chief operating officer.

Upbeat

Lotto mistake pays off

Bobby Guffey, of Roanoke, Ind., usually plays the same combination of numbers representing the birthdays of his five children. But he left his glasses at home when he bought the winning ticket Aug. 6, accidentally entering the last number as 48 instead of 46. The Hoosier Lotto ticket ended up being worth $3 million. "My wife says it pays to be blind," Guffey said after he accepted his winnings at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. Guffey said he didn't realize he'd used the wrong number combination until he had left the service station where he bought it. He went back inside to buy a ticket with his usual numbers and that ticket won him $1,000 to go along with the jackpot.

Passages

James Hoyt, 83, one of four U.S. soldiers who discovered the Buchenwald concentration camp as World War II neared its end, died Monday in his sleep at home in rural Oxford, Iowa.

Walter B. Hill Jr., 59, a scholar of African-American history who was dedicated to making African-American materials preserved in the National Archives more accessible to scholars and the public, died July 29 of leukemia at a Washington, D.C., hospital.

Today in History

1777: American forces won the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington.

1977: Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tenn., at age 42.

1978: James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., told a Capitol Hill hearing he did not commit the crime, saying he'd been set up by a mysterious man called "Raoul."

1987: Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from Detroit, killing 156 people.

1998: A day before President Clinton was to face a grand jury concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, his lawyer said, "The truth is the truth, and that's how the president will testify."

Today's Birthdays

Actress Julie Newmar, 75. Actress Lesley Ann Warren, 62. Director James Cameron, 54. Actor Jeff Perry, 53. Singer Madonna, 50. Actress Angela Bassett, 50. Actor Steve Carell, 45. Country singer Emily Robison, 36. Singer Vanessa Carlton, 28. Actor Shawn Pyfrom, 22.

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