NEWS LITE : PIG OF STONE; RUNAWAY PORKER SALUTED IN CARVING.

A pig that captivated Britain by escaping from a slaughterhouse and frolicking for several days before being captured has been immortalized in a stone carving at a historic cathedral.

Two pigs - dubbed Butch and Sundance by the media - sparked a nationwide hunt in January when they escaped from the abattoir and swam across a river in their bid for freedom - which lasted several days. They are now living happily in an animal sanctuary.

Now, stonemasons carrying out restoration work at the 13th-century Lady Chapel at Hereford Cathedral in western England have carved Butch's likeness on a 4-foot block that will be set at the top of a pinnacle in the chapel's east face.

Sue Embrey, director of the Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust, said the hand-carved stone, which will be mounted in May, was part of a $1.6 million restoration project.

``It is a fabulous carving of Butch's face,'' she said. ``We now have a 20th-century legend alongside the more ancient legends depicted in the cathedral.''

Diana cure for cancer,

writer says

Princess Diana's journey to sainthood was greased with the revelation by Harper's Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis that she believes Di helped cure her of ovarian cancer. In her autobiography, ``No Time to Die'' - out April 14 - the fashion maven tells how her blood cell count wouldn't rise until she spoke on the phone with the princess, after which the count ``dramatically'' rose.

``I believe the princess was single-handedly responsible for getting me home to family,'' writes Tilberis, 50, the mother of two adopted sons. ``No one will ever convince me otherwise.'' She adds that Di had spoken of her touch as a `` `white light,' not in the literal sense of curing illness but in the transference of strength and tenderness.''

Tilberis says she met Di in 1987 and they became best buddies around fashion. She says that once when she complimented Di on a pair of shoes she was wearing - Chanels with an insignia of interlocking C's - the princess drily told her: ``I think of them as Charles and Camilla.''

Quick study earns some R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Give it up for Aretha Franklin.

The raves and bouquets are still pouring in for her jaw-dropping performance at the recent Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Franklin not only belted out a newfangled version of her classic ``Respect,'' but she subbed at the last minute for opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and nearly brought down the house with the aria ``Nessum Dorma'' from Puccini's ``Turandot.''

This is what separates the girls from the Queen of Soul: She had only eight minutes of preparation backstage for the aria, and she sang it in Pavarotti's key - three steps lower than her own range - with a 72-piece orchestra accompanying her, says USA Today. ``The reaction has just been overwhelming,'' she told the paper. ``I've gotten the most beautiful, exotic floral arrangements. Eddie Murphy sent me several dozen pink roses. The house is lined with big, beautiful arrangements from one end to the other. I just can't stand it,'' she said.

Curtain dropped on hanky-panky

Hollywood will have to tone it down if it wants to film on tiny Tangier Island, in Chesapeake Bay.

Warner Bros. was hoping to use the Virginia island as a location for ``Message in a Bottle'' starring Kevin Costner, Paul Newman and Robin Wright Penn.

The town liked the idea of getting its hands on the money but wanted nothing to do with the actors getting their hands on each other.

The town council voted unanimously to tell studio officials to pack their bags after members received confidential copies of the script.

``In the middle, they were taking clothes off and taking her clothes off,'' Mayor Dewey Crockett said. ``We realized the movie would have an economic impact on the island, but it would also be undermining what we have stood for all these years.''

Warner Bros. on-site manager Stewart Newman said the studio is hoping the town of 600 changes its mind.

Drumming up aid for cancer charity

Ringo Starr is hoping he can boost donations to a cancer charity with a little help from his friends.

The 57-year-old former Beatle appealed to Britons on Wednesday to give generously to the Marie Curie Cancer Care's $53 million Golden Daffodil appeal.

His appeal came a year to the day after he lost his mother-in-law to the disease.

Starr hopes to persuade people to buy one of the charity's golden daffodils rather than spend the money on a lottery ticket.

Starr's daughter, Lee, now 27, suffered a brain tumor two years ago but has recovered. His first wife, Maureen, died of leukemia in 1995.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Andy Frayling paid tribute to fugitive pig Butch in a cathedral carving.

Rugrats,'' left, to PBS' nday.

(2) A writer says Diana healed her.

(3) Costner