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Winnie the Pooh strikes back Winnie the Pooh, that beloved "bear of very little brain," who made his first appearance in a book in 1926 in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, is slated to return in a sequel by novelist David Benedictus.

Winnie the Pooh strikes back

Winnie the Pooh

, that beloved "bear of very little brain," who made his first appearance in a book in 1926 in

A.A. Milne

's

Winnie-the-Pooh

, is slated to return in a sequel by novelist

David Benedictus

.

Publishers in Britain and the United States said Friday that Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, due out Oct. 5, is the first authorized sequel to the 1926 book and Milne's 1928 follow-up, The House at Pooh Corner. (It was authorized by the books' guardian, the Trustees of the Pooh Properties.)

Details of the story are being kept secret, but Benedictus said he hoped his book would "both complement and maintain Milne's idea that whatever happens, a little boy and his bear will always be playing."

Steve Martin, bluegrass dude

Steve Martin

, who has fiddled around with the banjo in his spare time for 45 years, is finally releasing his first full-length album of bluegrass tunes.

USA Today says The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo will be released Jan. 27 exclusively at Amazon.com for its first 90 days.

Martin plans to perform tunes from the CD as host of Saturday Night Live Jan. 31.

Bryan Ferry dates son's ex

Bryan Ferry

may be 63, but apparently he can still make young rock chicks swoon with desire. British tab the Daily Mail reports that the

Roxy Music

singer's new girlfriend,

Amanda Sheppard

, is young enough to be his daughter. In fact, she could have become his

daughter-in-law

. Amanda, who is Bryan's junior by 36 years, once dated the singer's son

Isaac

.

An anon source tells the Mail, "It's a bit weird because there is such a huge age difference, but Amanda seems really happy with Bryan."

'Dexter' siblings marry

Michael C. Hall

, 37, who plays a serial killer on Showtime's

Dexter

, has eloped with his sister - his sister in fiction, at least. His rep has revealed that the actor and his

Dexter

sister,

Jennifer Carpenter

, 29, wed on New Year's Eve.

Couric: I'm not an idiot!

Katie Couric

last week defended her decision to take the news anchor job at CBS News, which has since suffered ratings losses. "Clearly I knew this was a declining genre when I came here, because I'm not an idiot, you know? I knew that network news was declining, and evening newscasts in particular," she told Condé Nast mag site Portfolio.com.

Katie said reports that she plans to leave CBS before her contract is up have been "really blown out of proportion." So she is leaving? "I've always had this philosophy in my life that I don't try to think about what's around the corner," she said.

R. Kelly a playa again

R. Kelly

's divorce from his wife of 11 years,

Andrea Lee Kelly

, has been finalized, the singer's rep confirmed Thursday. Kelly is doubly free: In June he was acquitted of child-pornography charges.

Happy birthday, Elvis

Priscilla Presley

joined hundreds of fans on the front lawn of

Elvis

' Graceland mansion in Memphis to mark the singer's 74th birthday Thursday.

Elvis' ex-wife led the crowd in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday." She also announced that Graceland has taken in two rescue horses named Max and Bandit. Elvis died at Graceland in 1977 at age 42.

March back on 'L&O: SVU'

Stephanie March

, who left the cast of NBC's

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

in '03 to pursue other opportunities, is coming back. March, who returned for a guest stint for one episode in '05, will be back as prosecutor Alexandra Cabot for a six-episode arc beginning Feb. 17.

Coda: No criminals, please!

Anne Hathaway

, whose ex-boyfriend

Raffaello Follieri

has pleaded guilty to a real estate scam, says right now she's not too fussy when it comes to men. Asked what she looks for in a guy, she told

Ellen DeGeneres

, "At this point I would just like him to be law-abiding."