NAMES IN THE NEWS : Ex-Queen May Run Great Wall

BEIJING — A one-time Arkansas beauty queen who dreams of running 2,000 miles along China’s Great Wall said today she has won government approval for the adventure but may have to detour around areas closed by the Chinese military.

Sally Miller Perdue, 51, said she hopes to attract “key Americans who the Chinese people identify with” to eat lunch with during stops along the famous wall in northern China that was built as a defense against invaders in the 3rd Century BC.

“Michael Jackson could certainly afford to do that, couldn’t he?” she said at a news conference at the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing.

The blonde Miss Arkansas of 1958 and Miss America finalist joked about her “fading beauty” and her “bird legs” but said she hopes to inspire women around the world “to believe in yourself at any age, whether you are rich or poor, whether you have a husband or don’t have a husband.”

In response to her proposal, she said, “All I got from Chinese businessmen was the statement, ‘You must be an insane female to want to do this.’ Maybe I was insane but I don’t think it was because I was female.”