"Have you ever had a momentary temptation to murder anybody?" asked TV Inquisitor David Frost. Novelist Truman Capote, the author of In Cold Blood, boggled for a second or so, but then allowed that, yes, he had given serious thought to homicide "on at least four or five occasions." Prime object of his lethal impulse was British Critic Kenneth Tynan, whom Capote thought "despicable in every conceivable way," a judgment no doubt derived from a verbal bout over the merits of In Cold Blood. Pressed farther by the fascinated Frost, Capote explained, "Most people commit suicide because they can't kill the people who are tormenting them. Instead of bumping them off, they bump themselves off. Well, I'm not like that. I'm going to bump them off first."

Thanks to his vocal and vehement advocacy of civil rights for his fellow blacks, Georgia State Legislator Julian Bond has earned ten honorary degrees in the past three years. Not bad for a 1961 dropout from Atlanta's Morehouse College. Last week, though, after completing a long-overdue term paper on the crisis in education, Bond became a 31-year-old college graduate and happily collected the most prized degree of all: his own, a B.A. from Morehouse in English.

"My physical-fitness instructor tells me I have the legs of an athlete," said that paragon of peacockery, Liberace. Last week Lee was tickling his candlelit keys and twinkling his athletic knees in a wardrobe that even for flesh-fatigued Las Vegas seemed a bit much: red-white-and-blue hot pants. And jeweled shoes with matching socks. And a red-white-and-blue purse. Cost of the outfit: $4,000, which, after all, is a mere pittance compared with the $1,000,000 or so that the world's prettiest pianist has spent on clothes over the past twelve years.

"I've played the best players of the last two decades," said Tennis Pro Jacques Grigry, "and I've never played one with better form." Bystanders may have wondered exactly what Grigry meant; still, there was no question that Actress Raquel Welch showed signs of developing an athletic prowess that might well surpass her dramatic skill. Ducking a tenacious flock of reporters eager to hear about her recent split from Husband Patrick Curtis, Raquel took up tennis and even skiing, in which she moved from beginner to high-intermediate status in three days. Add roller skating (she plays a rink queen in her new movie) and moviedom's most spectacular body seems likely to retain its impressive muscle tone. Coach Grigry pointed out another reason why Raquel should excel at competitive sports. "She has a great advantage on the court," he says. "Distraction."

Greta Garbo as Pope Innocent III? Italian Movie Director Franco Zeffirelli considered her, thought Charlie Chaplin might also be suitable, ended up by picking Laurence Olivier, who was unavailable. "Olivier couldn't do it, so they asked me," said his modest replacement, Actor Alec Guinness, who was in Italy filming a confrontation scene between Pope Innocent and St. Francis of Assisi for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Zeffirelli's cinematic treatment of the saint's life. "Religion is still an important factor for the young," mused Sir Alec, a Catholic himself. "Only difference is that in the past, religion was a sort of disciplined thinking. Now the young don't even know what the word discipline means."

The divorce of pioneer Heart Surgeon Christiaan Barnard, 48, from his first wife Louwtjie, 47, was not exactly friendly. Louwtjie simmered while he married a younger, wealthier woman, but she publicly branded her ex-husband a liar when his memoirs appeared with some unflattering comments on their 21 years together. Now Barnard has announced that he has written a new book, Heart Attack, aimed at "helping the heart sufferer toward a better comprehension of his disease." Simultaneously, Louwtjie announced that she, too, has written a study of heart problems --though ones not necessarily connected with vascular stress. "It's a message of hope to all the women in the world who find themselves in a similar position to mine," she said of her forthcoming autobiography. The title: Heart Break.

What's in a name? To Muslims, a great deal. Hence another exotic moniker for sports fans to stumble over: Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the impressive appellation by which 7-ft. 2-in. Basketball Star Lew Alcindor wishes to be known henceforth. Jabbar, a convert from Roman Catholicism, is not a Black Muslim like Boxer Muhammad Ali, but a member of Islam's orthodox Sunni sect. As for his new name, he explained to a press conference that Kareem means "noble" or "generous"; Abdul, "servant of Allah"; Jabbar, "powerful." Jabbar, who left on a three-week tour of Africa with his bride of one week, added that he did not expect the N.B.A. Milwaukee Bucks to give up his old name immediately "because I've become famous with it."

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