JAN 1
KNIGHT SHIFT ''Elton's already a queen, so isn't this a bit of a comedown?'' says Boy George, hearing that Queen Elizabeth II has knighted Elton John for his music and charitable work. The Queen also awards knighthoods to actor Michael Gambon (Dancing at Lughnasa) and sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, while British-born Bob Hope is made an honorary knight. Not making the cut: Sean Connery, whose bid is denied.
JAN 5
TO DI FOR International callers swamp a British switchboard to purchase tickets to Princess Diana's grave site on her family's Althorp estate in rural England. Restricted to 2,500 mourners daily, the site, open from her birthday (July 1) until the eve of her death anniversary (Aug. 30), gets more than 150,000 visitors.
JAN 7
STORMIN' NORM And he is outta here. ''Weekend Update'' anchor Norm Macdonald gets demoted by NBC West Coast prez Don Ohlmeyer from his desk job and is limited to SNL sketch work. Olhmeyer won't comment, but he's reportedly tired of jokes about pal O.J. Simpson slipping through Macdonald's lips. Ohlmeyer later refuses to air commercials on NBC touting Dirty Work, the first film starring the comedian, who finally quits SNL in April.
JAN 14
TOP DOCS NBC agrees to pay ER producer Warner Bros. a record-breaking $13 million per episode (a heart-stopping 550 percent increase from last year) to keep the No. 1 drama from defecting to a rival network.
JAN 15
COURT JOUSTERS Garry Shandling files a $100 million bad faith suit against his former manager, Brad Grey, whose company, Brillstein-Grey Enterprises, produced The Larry Sanders Show. Grey is accused of letting Sanders writers out of their contracts in order to hire them for other projects he produces. Grey later files a countersuit for $10 million alleging that it was Shandling's behavior that made the writers want to leave. The case is set to go to trial in June '99.
Leonardo DiCaprio sues Playgirl magazine on March 26 to prevent it from running a spread of nude pics. The suit is settled June 29 and the blurry shots eventually run in the magazine's October issue.
Paramount Pictures sets phasers on stun when it files suit on Feb. 10 against Carol Publishing, for copyright infringement over the humor book The Joy of Trek: How to Enhance Your Relationship With a Star Trek Fan. The studio successfully blocks distribution, but some copies of the book remain in circulation. Carol has appealed.
It's no laughing matter when Tim Allen files a libel suit March 3 against Henry Armstrong. The retired librarian, who was already suing the actor for allegedly hitting him with his Ferrari, reportedly told The National Enquirer that Allen was ''bleary-eyed and unsteady on his feet,'' which Allen says implies that he was driving drunk. Armstrong's case has been settled, while Allen's is still pending.
Oddball British director Tony Kaye sues New Line Cinema and Directors Guild of America for $275 million Nov. 23 after the company refuses to allow him to remove his name from his debut feature film, American History X, and replace it with a pseudonym (Kaye wants to use Humpty Dumpty). Among the charges are breach of contract and false endorsement for releasing a version of the film he did not sanction.
