http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=004056872326379&rtmo=LxxbLb Nd&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/3/9/wnewc09.html

Washington - John Newcombe, the Australian tennis star who was in the car when Smirk was arrested
for drink-driving in 1976 speaks for the first time about the incident in the Telegraph today.

Newcombe says he knew that the man elected president last Novemberhad lived with the knowledge
that his conviction in Maine 24 years ago might ruin his political career.

The Wimbledon star describes how he went with the 30-year-old Smirk to a bar in Kennebunkport,
near the home of former President George Bush, who was then the director of the CIA.

They had about six beers, Newcombe said: "Then, I got in the car and George started to drive
very slowly up that road. I think the local cop was waiting on that road for people to leave the pub.

"He had George get out and walk up and down. When George failed the test, the cop put him
under arrest and George was very co-operative. But, boy, that cop looked really nervous
when he realised that he picked up the son of the CIA director."

Newcombe says he had never been asked to remain silent but that he had gone underground
when the story broke only five days before the presidential election.
"Nobody found me. I guess I could have become the next Monica, but I kept my mouth shut."