Prince makes surprise run

London — Prince William surprised thousands of amateur runners by joining a charity race Saturday, completing the mile-long course in a respectable six minutes, 10 seconds.

“I’ve been training for about two minutes,” the 22-year-old prince, left, said before the Sport Relief race along the River Thames in central London. “I’ve run round the block. I’ve done a few miles in my time — not very well. I’ve done a bit of cross country but it was pretty bad.”

The prince, a university student, is second in line to the throne.

More than 70,000 people around Britain were expected to run charity races as part of Sport Relief, a British Broadcasting Corp.-sponsored day of athletic events to benefit anti-poverty campaigns in Britain and the developing world.

‘West Wing’ worker seeks real deal

Charlotte, N.C. — Democratic congressional hopeful Beth Troutman has landed solid support from her old colleagues on the “The West Wing.”

Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlet on the NBC show, is among several cast members who have contributed to Troutman’s campaign to oust incumbent U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican.

Troutman, 27, worked on “The West Wing” for four years, most recently as manager of the director-executive producer’s office.

Trump getting a head start

New York — Donald Trump hasn’t even chosen his second apprentice, and he’s already looking for his third.

Trump spent Friday interviewing prospective candidates for the third season of his hit NBC reality show, “The Apprentice,” at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.

Some 200 hopefuls waited in line for a casting call.

Auditions will be held in Miami, Boston, Honolulu, Salt Lake City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Jacksonville, Fla., Minneapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, Memphis, Tenn., Las Vegas, Cincinnati and Seattle.

The second season of “The Apprentice” will premiere in September.

Ex-Motown exec pans new music

Bryant, Ark. — Listen up, Britney Spears and Beyonce Knowles.

Al Bell, former Stax Records owner and Motown president, thinks fancy digital recording equipment is a crutch for today’s pop singers.

“What I’ve seen it do is allow a person with mediocre talent excel because of the technology and maintain that mediocrity,” Bell, 64, said recently. “So they get on stage with the headsets and they’re lip-synching because they can’t really sing as well as they sound on the record.”

The man who wrote the lyrics to the Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” and brought the world the funk of Isaac Hayes and the catchy “Whoomp! There It Is” used analog 24-track reel-to-reel machines in the 1960s.