PROTECTED: Oprah Winfrey, 48, narrowly escaped injury Tuesday when a marquee collapsed during a function in South Africa at which the Oprah Winfrey Foundation presented Christmas gifts to school children, Variety reports. Ten people, including two children, were hurt when sudden gusts of wind toppled the tent at the Cholphasie secondary school, near Umtata in the Eastern Cape province. Winfrey (who has been playing Santa for the past month through her Christmas Kindness Project, which aims to reach 45,000 children countrywide) was outside the tent at the time.
BUSTED: Former "Eight Is Enough" child actor Adam Rich, now 34, was arrested early Wednesday after he drove onto a closed highway lane and nearly struck a California Highway Patrol car, authorities tell the Associated Press. Rich, who played Nicholas on the '70s series (and has been a patient of the Betty Ford Clinic for a substance-abuse problem), was booked for investigation of driving under the influence, says CHP Officer Francisco Villalobos.
NAMED: In a Yahoo! Auto online poll of 4,187 people, Nelly's "Hot in Herre" was voted the best driving song, scoring 20 percent of the votes. In second place: Eminem's "Without Me" (19 percent). Others selected included "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas (the song featured in those ultra-slick Mitsubishi commercials) "Soak up the Sun," by Sheryl Crow, "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World and "Complicated" by Canadian teen rocker Avril Lavigne.
OFFERED: Mick Jagger's six-bedroom, six-bathroom home in the Caribbean (on the island of Mustique) is available for rent to vacationers, the Wall Street Journal reports. "The property is made up of six sleeping/living pavilions and a bath pavilion with sunken hot tub," says the paper. Fans of koi fish will not be disappointed, either. There's a pond stocked with them. There's also a staff of six and Jagger family pets are in residence. Weekly rental: $13,000-$16,000.
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