GREECE: Hairbreadth George

When Greece recalled King George II from placid exile in shabby, respectable Brown’s Hotel in London last year, it sucked him into a political vortex of danger and unease so critical that his friends were unfairly suspected of having poisoned his chief antagonist, the late General-Dictator George Kondylis (TIME, Feb. 10). Last week King George, normally a sedate and cautious citizen, was driving in nervous haste down an Athens street when a street car suddenly lumbered around a corner directly into his path. Having been tuned by his new life to hair-trigger reflexes, the King swung hard on the wheel, narrowly saved himself and only slightly nicked the Greek street car. Three days later he avoided damaging either himself or his automobile when he collided with a taxicab.