For the first time in five months the sun melted the leaden skies over Bogota, Colombia, when Adlai Stevenson arrived on his South American tour. "Viva Democracy! Viva Adlai, Adlai, Adlai, Adlai !" roared crowds of Colombians as they flocked to Stevenson and his party, some for mixed motives: both Son John Fell Stevenson and ex-Senator William Benton lost their wallets to pickpockets. At a bullfight, where Stevenson was cheered the loudest, Matadors Luis Miguel Dominguin and Pepe Caceres dedicated their bulls to him. At a cocktail party Stevenson charmed the guests by bringing along Dominguin. Gushed one regal lady: ''Mr. Stevenson, when you get into the White House, will you please invite me?"

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Between courses of a Wagnerian dinner, Danish-born Heldentenor Lauritz Melchior, 69, sounded off on the state of U.S. music: "Do you realize we are the only civilized nation without a ministry of the arts in the Government? Do you think we would have all this juvenile delinquency if our youth were introduced to the fineness of great music and art? Instead we give them criminal entertainment and savage music that builds up in them excitements that they are told they must not release." The Melchior prescription: "I suggest that each state levy a small tax on radio and TV sets. The state government should set aside this revenue ... to start a state symphony orchestra and a state opera company--even a state theater."

Wearing a crown of flowers, the British royal family's pretty Princess Alexandra, 23, daughter of the Duchess of Kent and cousin of the Queen, brought a touch of early spring to a wintry landscape as she rode to a luncheon given by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of the City of London.

Stanley Holloway, 69, bumptious cockney papa of My Fair Lady who pleaded memorably with his friends to get him to the church on time, got to Buckingham Palace on time to receive the Order of the British Empire from Prince Philip for his many years of distinction in the theater.

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who led the U.S. Navy to an epic Pacific victory in World War II, gracefully navigated an epic birthday celebration, his 75th, in San Francisco. At a testimonial banquet, Old Seadog Nimitz happily wore a double lei of red carnations (a gift from the people of Hawaii), licked frosting from his finger, and modestly ducked a salvo of praise. As for a big birthday party: "I feel the same way about it as the man who bought himself a small boat. His two happiest days were when he bought it and when he sold it."

In the middle of a scholarly sociology lecture at the University of Colorado, up jumped the most conspicuous member of the class, statuesque, blonde Marilyn Van Derbur, 22, Miss America of 1958, to challenge Associate Professor Howard Higman. Would he comment on J. Edgar Hoover's Masters of Deceit? The professor obliged by launching into a denunciation of the FBI, and for two days, embattled factions of the 190-student class, led by Marilyn and the professor, argued the reputation of the FBI. Proving Marilyn's point that the FBI is always on the spot, Author Hoover sent Marilyn an autographed copy of Masters of Deceit with the message: "Your actions in confronting error with truth are in keeping with the highest traditions of academic freedom." Said Professor Higman ruefully at the end of a well-publicized week: "I smelled a plot coming, but it is not my habit to duck questions."

Princess Suga, 21, youngest daughter of Japan's Emperor Hirohito, received the nicest going-away present a girl could get, even though she was not going very far. The Imperial Economy Council awarded her a dowry of 15 million yen (about $40,000) as compensation for leaving the royal line to marry Commoner Hisanaga Shimazu, 26. Hisanaga, who makes $50 a week at an export-import bank, is a commoner through no fault of his own: he lost his chance at a title (his deceased father was a count) after the war, when all titles were abolished.

Pale but unbowed from ten years in British prisons for giving away atomic secrets, Traitor Klaus Fuchs in East Germany calmly pondered a crucial question: Would he do it all over again? "It's hard to say," he told the New York Times's Flora Lewis. But secure in his spacious villa near Dresden, supplied with the instruments of his calling, wearing a Communist Party button in his lapel, he quickly finished answering: "The Soviet Union is on the right line. It is for peace. Whatever helps the Soviet Union is right."

After 24 years of marriage (three of separation) and three children, Duncan Sandys, 52, British Minister of Aviation, filed suit for divorce from Diana Churchill, 50, Sir Winston's eldest daughter. Diana will not contest.

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