What was going on when I was born?

Anne Spoonhour has transformed her grief into a crusade. Since February 1984, when her 14-year-old son, Justin, hanged himself from a tree near his home in Putnam Valley, Mrs. Spoonhour has traveled all over, talking to teen-agers, parents, educators, clergymen and almost anyone who will listen, about the causes, myths and effects of suicide.

A local official who spoke with members of a Soviet parliamentary delegation that visited this city last month reported that the Russians seemed equally impressed and perplexed by the thrusting, anything-goes atmosphere that prevails along the banks of the Pearl River. ''If this is Marxism, I must re-read Marx,'' one Russian is said to have remarked. During their time here, the officials were exposed to the city's exploding free enterprise, to its Western-style hotels rivaling the best in Hong Kong, and to the many other signs that Canton has lost its heart to the policy of the ''open door.''

King George III had a bit of a raw deal in history. I think slowly but surely people are realizing he wasn't such an ogre as they made out.'' -Charles, Prince of Wales. [A1:2.]

Reagan Administration officials said today that there was an outside possibility that the meeting between President Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev might produce an agreement on guidelines to provide impetus to the arms control negotiations. But they stressed there was only a slim chance of this. With Mr. Reagan scheduled to leave on Saturday for the meetings in Geneva on Nov. 19 and 20, the officials, in separate discussions, said that because of the wide gap between the United States and the Soviet Union, it was unrealistic in the week remaining to expect major agreements to emerge.

An article in some copies on Wednesday about an auction of contemporary art at Sotheby's misidentified an Arshile Gorky painting that was sold. It was an untitled 1944 Surrealist work.

The Prince of Wales held a rare news conference today, decreeing that his wife finds John Travolta to be a good dancer and that he finds George III to be a better King than Americans might admit. ''King George III had a bit of a raw deal in history,'' Prince Charles said in politely contradicting what he called ''propaganda'' about his forebear, who was denounced as a tyrant by the American revolutionaries. ''I think slowly but surely people are realizing he wasn't such an ogre as they made out.''

Despite six fewer shopping days this Christmas season than last, retailers and economists expect the holiday period to produce sales gains of 6 to 10 percent over 1984. They said that pent-up demand for merchandise of many sorts, improved regional economies and better-planned inventories would help to overcome the shortened season. Nonetheless, the merchants are girding for what they say will be a difficult, hectic period following Thanksgiving Day, when the season formally starts. With Thanksgiving falling on Nov. 28, six days later than last year, many retailers are planning even longer store hours than usual for the holiday season to make up for the loss of nearly a week's time in the year's most important shopping period. They are also planning to hold more sales in the first few days of the season.

A report on Tuesday in the Briefing column of the Washington Talk page, about litigation involving Ralph Nader and Car and Driver magazine, incorrectly described the resolution of the case. Mr. Nader accepted a settlement of $20,000 from the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, which owned the magazine at the time of the suit.

Two private airplanes collided and fell in flames over two New Jersey communities near the Hudson River shortly after dusk yesterday, killing their occupants and setting off clusters of fires in residential and commercial buildings. At least five people - two in each of the planes and one on the ground - were known dead. Despite heavy destruction and fires on the ground, only one other person was listed as missing early today, and eight people were reported injured, two of them seriously.

The Giants' offense staggered and struggled today, and it gave away the ball twice deep in its territory and it had Phil Simms overthrow open receivers. The special teams allowed an 89-yard kickoff return. But the defense played a solid, aggressive game, the offense and defense benefited from disputed fourth-quarter calls by the officials and, with a little luck, the Giants hung on for a 24-19 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. On the Giants' first offensive play of the game, the 74,663 fans at Giants Stadium groaned as their heroes fumbled away the ball on their 6-yard line. The Rams quickly scored. After a pair of field goals in the second quarter, Los Angeles seemed about to take a 13-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Henry Eisner remembered his crush on Eva Frank and finally revealed it, after 47 years. ''Why didn't you tell me?'' demanded his former classmate, Mrs. Frank, who is widowed now.

Donna Moore stepped from the elevator at the Carter, her cheery hello ringing through the fifth-floor corridor, and one after another doors popped open, spilling toddlers who clambered at her knees and sad-eyed women who hung on her every word. Miss Moore patted the children, asked whether they were behaving and inquired after their progress in school. The mothers, meanwhile, peppered her with questions about how to find an apartment, how to fend off eviction, how to get their children immunized, how to find a methadone clinic, how to get through the days cooped up in a single room overlooking the streets off Times Square.