NEWS LITE\Hughes bio for the germs.

Byline: Compiled by Terry Murphy from Daily News staff and wire reports.

A new bio of legendary eccentric Howard Hughes charts the intricate methods to his madness and traces the roots of his extreme paranoia, phobias and delusions to a case of syphilis the millionaire contracted as a young man.

"Howard Hughes: The Untold Story," by Peter Harry Brown and Pat Broeske, excerpted in April's Vanity Fair, takes a microscope to Hughes' obsessions with controlling the women as well as the germs in his life.

In "Operating Manual for Taking Clothes to HRH," designed to ensure that nobody else's germs "somehow leaped onto my clean clothing," instructions to staff specified:

"He wants you to obtain a brand new knife, never used, to open a new box of Kleenex using the knife to open the slot. After the box is open you are to take the little tag and the first piece of Kleenex and destroy them; then using two fingers of the left hand and two fingers of the right hand take each piece of Kleenex out of the box and place it on an opened newspaper and repeat this until approximately 50 sheets are neatly stacked. You then have a paddle for one hand. You are then to make another for the other hand, making a total of two paddles of Kleenex. . . . The thing to be careful of during the operation is not to breathe upon the various items."

Glamour gal dogmatic on trucker image

Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, who plays the bad girl Valerie Malone on "Beverly Hills, 90210," separates herself from her glamorous character when she climbs behind the wheel.

"I drive a truck," she said in today's Parade magazine. "A real truck."

Why no sports car for the 22-year-old former pageant winner and model? She said she needs the truck to carry her dogs, Bonnie, Clyde and Mattie.

Tub-shy executive to pull plug on job at British company

It's off to the showers for a London water company executive who splashed into the headlines by staying out of the bathtub during a drought last summer.

Trevor Newton, group managing director and deputy chairman of Yorkshire Water PLC, announced Friday he will retire May 31.

Newton, 52, decided that "now is the right time for him to retire," said Yorkshire Water spokesman Norman Hurst.

"He's not been sacked or asked to go," Hurst said. "He's not leaving because of the drought."

Last summer's drought in northern England left Yorkshire Water seriously short. During a news conference, Newton urged people to save water by washing themselves less often, then announced: "I personally haven't had a bath or shower for three months."

He said he maintained his personal hygiene by using a washcloth and a bowl of hot water every day. Yorkshire Water later clarified that Newton was boycotting the bathtub only while he was in the drought area, and he had in fact been bathing elsewhere occasionally.

No 'Blue Lagoon' before Brooke's honeymoon

Brooke Shields, who used to boast about being a virgin, says she won't move in with fiance Andre Agassi until they walk down the aisle. "I like to maintain some mystery," said she.

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Photo (1) Thiessen Needs room for menagerie (2) Spell-bound Stephen Herrick, a contestant in the Grand Rapids Spelling Bee Finals, loses his composure as judges question his spelling of the word "denizen." Associated Press