YEAR IN REVIEW 1998: BIOGRAPHY

Abacha, Sani Many found it downright curious how in 1997 Gen. Sani Abacha, who had ruthlessly seized power in Nigeria in a coup four years earlier, was sending troops to Sierra Leone in an effort to defend democracy there. Earlier he had assisted peacekeeping forces in Liberia, and it was thought that Abacha was also providing economic aid to support democracy in that country. At home, however, Abacha oversaw a dictatorial regime that suppressed political parties, gagged the press, violated human rights, and pushed the country in the direction of economic and ecological ruin. Abacha was born on Sept. 20, 1943, in Kano, the major city in Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria. A career military man, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1963 after attending Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna and Mons Defence Officers' Cadet Training College in England. He rose through the ranks of the military and was serving as a brigadier when he assisted (1983) Ibrahim Babangida in overthrowing elected Pres. Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Two years later Babangida staged another military coup against Muhammadu Buhari and installed himself as leader of the nation. Abacha served as army chief of staff and later, in the post of defense minister, as second in command to Babangida. General elections were held in 1993 and were apparently won by the Social Democratic candidate, Moshood ("MKO") Abiola, a Yoruba businessman from the southwest, but the military government soon annulled the election results. Abacha managed to weather the political and civil upheaval that ensued, and in November 1993 he declared himself president. Though Abacha promised a return to civilian rule by 1995, he dismantled democratic institutions, banned political activity of any kind, and shut down several independent publications, stating in an address, "Any attempt to test our will will be decisively dealt with." In June 1994 Abiola tested that will by publicly declaring himself the rightful elected ruler of Nigeria. He was promptly jailed and charged with treason. Unfavourable attention came to Abacha again in November 1995 when writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and a number of other ecological activists from the oil-rich Ogoniland area in the southeast, were executed for treason. In March 1997 Wole Soyinka, self-exiled Nobel laureate and Nigeria's best-known writer, was also formally charged with treason. In October 1995 Abacha had again promised national elections, this time for 1998, and said that he would step down at that time. In early 1997, however, as new political parties were being formed under the government's careful scrutiny, Abacha even hinted that he might want to run for president himself.ANTHONY L. GREEN Adams, John Coolidge American composer John Adams, whose works were among the most performed of contemporary composers, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1997. He had already won a number of honours, including a Guggenheim fellowship in 1982 and the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1995. The latest honour, however, set an official seal of approval on his work. Adams was born on Feb. 15, 1947, in Worcester, Mass. He became proficient on the clarinet at an early age (sometimes free-lancing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performing with other groups) and by his teenage years was composing. His teachers at Harvard University (A.B., 1969; M.A., 1971) included Leon Kirchner and Roger Sessions. Adams was the first person in the history of the university to be allowed to submit a musical composition as a senior honours thesis. After graduation he moved to California, where from 1972 to 1982 he taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 1978 he founded and directed the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's series "New and Unusual Music," and he was composer in residence with the orchestra from 1982 to 1985. Although his early compositions were in an academic style, Adams soon began drawing on much broader sources, including pop, jazz, electronic music, and minimalism. His use of minimalist techniques--characterized by repetition and simplicity--came to be tempered by expressive, even neo-Romantic, elements. His works encompassed a wide range of genres and included Shaker Loops (1978), chamber music for string septet; Harmonium (1980), a cantata for chorus and orchestra using the poetry of John Donne and Emily Dickinson; Grand Pianola Music (1981-82), a reworking of early-20th-century American popular music for instrumental ensemble, three sopranos, and two pianos; Harmonielehre (1984-85), an homage to Arnold Schoenberg, whose music was the antithesis of minimalism, for orchestra; Fearful Symmetries (1988), for orchestra; and Wound-Dresser (1988), for baritone and orchestra. One of his especially popular orchestral works was Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986). Adams's most ambitious works, however, were two operas, both created in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, poet Alice Goodman, and choreographer Mark Morris. The first, Nixon in China (1987), took as its subject the visit of U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon to China in 1972. The second, The Death of Klinghoffer (1991), was based on the hijacking by Palestinian terrorists of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 and the killing of a disabled Jewish passenger. Both operas received a number of performances, and both were recorded, with Nixon in China winning a Grammy in 1989. Both works also had their detractors, but a number of critics found them to be among the most significant of contemporary operas, arguing that they succeeded in melding the communicative and expressive requirements of the form with eclectic musical styles and minimalist techniques. Meanwhile, The Chairman Dances, subtitled "Foxtrot for Orchestra," which was written for Nixon in China but dropped from the final score, became one of Adams's most often played orchestral works.ROBERT RAUCH Albright, Madeleine On Jan. 23, 1997, Czech-born American diplomat Madeleine Albright, known for her tough-mindedness, was sworn in as the first woman to hold the post of U.S. secretary of state. She was not yet two years old when Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia. The betrayal of that nation through the appeasement policies of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at the 1938 Munich Conference proved an enduring influence that shaped her political life. Considerably more hawkish than her predecessor, Warren Christopher, Albright was a strong advocate of the use of U.S. military and political power to accomplish foreign policy goals, stating "My mind-set is Munich. Most of my generation's is Vietnam." Albright, the daughter of a Czech diplomat, was born Marie Jana Korbel on May 15, 1937, in Prague. Following the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, her family fled to England. Although she spent most of her life believing that they had fled for political reasons, in 1997 she learned that her family was Jewish and that three of her grandparents had died in German concentration camps. The family returned to Czechoslovakia after World War II, but the Soviet-sponsored communist coup made the family refugees again, and by 1948 they had settled in the United States. In 1959 Albright graduated from Wellesley (Mass.) College and married Joseph Albright, a member of the Medill newspaper-publishing family. After earning (1968) a master's degree from Columbia University, New York City, she worked as a Democratic fund-raiser for Sen. Edmund Muskie's failed 1972 presidential campaign, and she later served as Muskie's chief legislative assistant. By 1976 she had received a Ph.D. from Columbia and was working for Zbigniew Brzezinski, Pres. Jimmy Carter's national security adviser. During the Republican administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush in the 1980s and early 1990s, Albright worked for several nonprofit organizations, and her Washington, D.C., home became a salon for influential Democratic politicians and policy makers. She also served (1982-93) as professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. After the election of Pres. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 1992, Albright's political star began rising, and Clinton named her ambassador to the United Nations in 1993. At the UN she gained a reputation as a fierce advocate for American interests while promoting an increased role for the United States in UN operations, particularly those with a military component. Following her unanimous confirmation by the Senate in 1997, the new secretary of state faced a number of volatile international situations. The Middle East peace process had collapsed in a welter of bloodshed; an increasingly bellicose North Korea was facing famine; and the expansion of NATO was meeting with vociferous opposition from Russia. By the year's end, Albright had visited Africa, Russia, China, Latin America, and the Middle East. Some critics charged her with emphasizing style over substance, suggesting that she lacked the vision necessary for the post. Others pointed out that it was Albright's job to implement foreign policy, not create it, and that she was not to blame for the somewhat confused vision that emerged from an administration focused on domestic issues.JOHN H. MATHEWS Annan, Kofi Atta When he moved into the office of UN secretary-general on Jan. 1, 1997, Kofi Annan of Ghana knew exactly what was expected from him by the organization's member nations. He was to clean house. The UN had become a sprawling bureaucracy--inefficient, costly, and misunderstood by many of the nations it was meant to aid. The affable and intelligent Annan, the first person from sub-Saharan Africa to serve as secretary-general, was elected to the post during stormy times at the UN. His predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, was determined to keep the top post at the organization, though many member nations, most notably the United States, were put off by his independent and aloof style. The U.S., concerned about the UN's operation costs and its activities under Boutros-Ghali, had been deliberately withholding its contributions and was more than $1.5 billion in arrears to the organization at the time Boutros-Ghali's term was ending. The U.S. used its veto power as a member of the Security Council to block his reelection and to stall the entire process until a suitable candidate was found. After some heated bickering between the U.S. and France, the nomination of Annan was finally approved. Annan was a surprisingly popular choice to become the seventh secretary-general of the UN. At a time when the UN was in desperate need of bureaucratic reform and new thinking regarding its role in peacekeeping operations, he was the first secretary-general to rise through the ranks of the organization (since 1962 he had spent all but two years of his life working for the UN); he also had been deeply involved in the peacekeeping missions of the 1990s. His wide range of experience and his gentle manner made him a particularly desirable candidate. He joined the UN in 1962 as a budget officer for the World Health Organization in Geneva. With the exception of 1974-76 (spent as director of the Ghana Tourist Development Co.), Annan rose through the administrative ranks of the UN, reaching the positions of assistant secretary-general and controller for program planning, budget, and finance in 1990. During this time he established a reputation as an effective and approachable manager. On March 1, 1993, he was elevated to under-secretary-general of peacekeeping operations. In that position he distinguished himself during the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in his graceful handling of the transition of peacekeeping operations from UN forces to NATO troops. Kofi Atta Annan was born on April 8, 1938, in Kumasi, Gold Coast (now Ghana). His father was the governor of Ashanti province and a hereditary chief of the Fanti people. Annan studied at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi before traveling to the U.S. There, in 1961, he completed his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. He continued his education at the Institute for Advanced International Studies in Geneva (1961-62). Ten years later he earned a master's degree in management while a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1972). In July 1997 Annan proposed a plan to reform the bureaucracy of the UN that included consolidating some offices. He also called for revisions of the UN charter that would allow for further streamlining. His proposals aimed not only to improve the efficacy of the UN but also to help mend relations with the U.S., the host nation of the UN headquarters.JAMES HENNELLY Armani, Giorgio In 1997 Italian designer Giorgio Armani, for years a fashion trendsetter, launched Giorgio Armani Exclusive, a limited-edition line of handmade couture dresses that were available only by order and to select clients. In addition, his signature style, which included both relaxed yet luxurious ready-to-wear and elegant, intricately beaded chiffon evening wear, was reinvented by other designers on numerous international catwalks. The death of colleague and countryman Gianni Versace allowed Armani to pay tribute to his archrival. Although each had pioneered a different approach to style (Armani's designs were minimalist, whereas Versace's ensembles were flamboyant), Armani attended the debut of Donatella Versace's (Gianni's sister's) collection for the house of Versace and then at the close of the show led the standing ovation that hailed her first collection a success. Armani was born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy, and was the son of a shipping manager. Rising from humble origins, he intended to become a doctor but left medical school and worked as a buyer, beginning in 1957, for the Milan department store La Rinascente. In 1964, after a seven-year stint in that position, Armani pursued a career in fashion design, training in the atelier of Nino Cerruti. About 10 years later, with the help of his friend and business partner Sergio Galeotti, Armani launched his own label of ready-to-wear for men and women. Each year he added new offerings to his company--introducing perfume, accessories, a jeans line, the lower-priced diffusion line Emporio Armani, and sportswear. Armani, a perfectionist who always wore the same shade of midnight blue, best described his approach to fashion as follows: "I was the first to soften the image of men, and harden the image of women. I dressed men in women's fabrics, and stole from men what women wanted and needed--the power suit." His androgynous approach rarely disappointed fashion critics, who dutifully appeared each season at shows staged at his 17th-century palazzo on Via Borgonuovo in central Milan. Meanwhile, the public developed an insatiable demand for his minimalist style, and such Hollywood leading ladies as Jodie Foster, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Annette Bening became torchbearers for the Armani look at the Academy Awards ceremonies. The measure of his success was staggering--in 1996 his company, Giorgio Armani SpA, enjoyed stratospheric sales totaling 1,870,000,000 lira, an astounding 10% increase from the previous year. BRONWYN COSGRAVE Arnault, Bernard During much of 1997 French businessman Bernard Arnault, the president and chairman of the French conglomerate LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the largest luxury-products company in the world, attempted to quash the proposed $38 billion merger of Guinness PLC and Grand Metropolitan PLC (Grand Met)--two British spirits and food firms in which he was a major shareholder. Despite his efforts the deal, which created Diageo PLC--the world's largest spirits company--went through. In May Arnault, who had issued a legal challenge, complained, "I do not see any logic combining hamburgers, food, wine, and spirits; I think there are better ideas." Arnault's better idea had been to become the leading shareholder in a new company. He proposed that the beverage businesses of Guinness, Grand Met, and LVMH be merged and that the new firm divest itself of the Guinness breweries and such food entities as Burger King Corp. and Pillsbury Co. Although his grand plan did not succeed, his worries were, according to The Economist, "assuaged by a promise of 250m when the deal goes through." Arnault was born on March 5, 1949, in Roubaix, France. He graduated from the cole Polytechnique in Paris with a degree in engineering but left France in the early 1980s to pursue a career in real estate in New York City. Four years later he was back in France on the cusp of his first big fashion deal and armed with American business know-how and skills at playing hardball. With $15 million of his own money, Arnault and Antoine Bernheim, a managing partner of the French bank Lazard Frres and Co., raised the $80 million necessary to purchase Boussac, a bankrupt textile company that owned the fashion house of Christian Dior. Then, in 1987, Arnault was invited to invest in LVMH by the company's chairman, Henri Racamier. Investing through a joint venture with Guinness, Arnault soon ousted Racamier and started to sweep a slew of fashion companies into the LVMH fold: Christian Lacroix, Givenchy, Kenzo, the leather goods companies Loewe, Cline, and Berluti, the jeweler Fred Joailler, the DFS group (the world's biggest duty-free chain), and Sephora, a chain of perfume shops. Although Arnault was not a household name in the U.S., he was known in Europe as the man who revitalized French couture in 1995 by appointing British fashion designer John Galliano to replace the venerable Hubert de Givenchy at the latter's Paris fashion house. The "Pope of Fashion," as Arnault was dubbed by Women's Wear Daily, a year later moved Galliano to Christian Dior and appointed the brash British fashion designer Alexander McQueen to replace him. Arnault then hired Marc Jacobs, a young American designer, to the post of creative director at Louis Vuitton, the maker of luxury leather goods. Even though his fashion foresight had revived interest in these traditional fashion houses, Arnault was both loathed and respected by his countrymen. He was unrepentant in his approach. "I am not interested in anything else but the youngest, the brightest and the very, very talented." BRONWYN COSGRAVE Arz Irigoyen, Alvaro As Alvaro Arz neared the end of his second full year as president of Guatemala in 1997, he helped the country take the first steps toward recovery from its long civil war. During 1996 the president had achieved a number of agreements with guerrilla forces, culminating in the signing of a peace accord, and benefits from his actions began to appear in 1997. Arz was born on March 14, 1946, in Guatemala City. Descended from Basque immigrants, he was a member of the country's small but powerful European elite. As a young man he tried boxing and bullfighting, and he was successful in business. From 1985 to 1990 Arz served as mayor of Guatemala City. He made an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1990 and in 1991 was appointed minister of foreign affairs. He resigned the post that same year, however, to become secretary-general of the conservative National Advancement Party. Advocating various social reforms, as well as peace with Guatemala's guerrillas, he ran for president again in 1995 and, with strong support from voters in Guatemala City, narrowly won the office in a runoff election held on Jan. 7, 1996. Although peace talks had begun in 1990 and the fighting had waned, during 1996 Arz moved swiftly to bring the civil war to an end. His efforts involved reaching accords with the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), including plans to demobilize the guerrillas and reintegrate them into society, reduce the size of the armed forces, and create a civilian force to take over police duties. The government also signed an international agreement outlining the rights of indigenous peoples. In March the government and the URNG agreed to a temporary cease-fire. On December 4 they signed a permanent cease-fire in Oslo, and on December 29, in Guatemala City, they signed the Accord for a Firm and Lasting Peace, which thus ended a conflict that had lasted more than 35 years. The task of implementing the agreements was among Arz's principal concerns in 1997. In January he traveled to Brussels, where he met with representatives of the United Nations and major lending countries to secure financial aid. Overcoming diplomatic objections from China, he then won agreement by the UN to station observers in Guatemala. By late 1997 the URNG had taken steps to transform itself into a political party. It was clear, however, that not all the country's problems would be solved easily. Human rights groups had criticized legislative action in late 1996 that granted pardons to both government and guerrilla officials and soldiers for political and common crimes, and they complained of difficulties in gaining access to the records needed to trace victims of the civil war. ROBERT RAUCH Ashley, Merrill Ballerina Merrill Ashley's farewell performance on Nov. 25, 1997, not only marked her retirement from a 30-year career with the New York City Ballet (NYCB); it also represented a good-bye to one of the few remaining direct links to George Balanchine, the company's legendary founder. Ashley was the only NYCB ballerina who was still performing a ballet that Balanchine had created especially for her. Ballo della regina, choreographed in 1978, showcased the virtuoso aspects of her technique--her speed, clarity, and precision--and was featured frequently throughout her final season. Ashley, born Linda Michelle Merrill on Dec. 2, 1950, in St. Paul, Minn., and raised in Rutland, Vt., began studying ballet when she was seven. In 1964, when she was 13, she received a Ford Foundation scholarship and began to study full time at the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB. In 1967 she joined NYCB's corps de ballet--and changed her name because the company already had a member named Linda Merrill--and before long she was dancing solo roles in addition to appearing with the corps. Ashley officially became a soloist in 1974 and began adding such demanding choreography as the "Sanguinic" movement in The Four Temperaments, the "Rubies" section of Jewels, and the lead role in Square Dance to her repertoire. She was promoted to the rank of principal dancer in 1977. Balanchine began casting Ashley in more lyrical ballets--the "Emeralds" section of Jewels, his one-act Swan Lake, and In the Night among them--to broaden her range, and in 1980 he created the second of the two ballets he choreographed for her, Ballade, to display this softer, more romantic side. Other Balanchine ballets that especially demonstrated her artistry included Concerto barocco, Donizetti Variations, Gounod Symphony, and Chaconne. Besides dancing with NYCB, Ashley formed her own group, Merrill Ashley and Dancers, which toured in 1980 and 1981. She also performed as a guest artist with a number of companies. Her autobiography, Dancing for Balanchine, was published in 1984. Ashley's departure from the stage did not mean she was abandoning ballet; she planned to teach dance. BARBARA WHITNEY Ballard, Robert Duane In 1997 American oceanographer Robert Ballard inaugurated a new era in archaeology with the discovery of eight ancient ships, including one that dated to 200 BC, 760 m (2,500 ft) below an old trade route in the Mediterranean Sea. Whereas previous maritime explorations had largely been limited to depths of 60 m (200 ft), Ballard and a team of archaeologists, oceanographers, and deep-sea specialists were able to locate the wreckage by using a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with long-range sonar. Robot vessels then photographed the site and retrieved artifacts. Found in deep water, the ships were well preserved, not subjected to the looting and coral layering that occured in shallow-water sites. The finding introduced deep-sea archaeology and established Ballard, already noted for his discovery of the Titanic, as "curator of the world's underwater museum." Born on June 30, 1942, in Wichita, Kan., Ballard grew up in San Diego, Calif., where he developed a fascination with the ocean. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, earning degrees in chemistry and geology in 1965. As a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, he entered the army following graduation, serving a two-year tour before requesting a transfer to the navy. In 1967 he was assigned to the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Research Institution, becoming a full-time marine scientist in 1974 after completing his doctoral degrees in marine geology and geophysics at the University of Rhode Island. At Woods Hole he was involved in more than 65 expeditions. For Project FAMOUS (French-American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study), Ballard helped develop Alvin, a three-person submersible equipped with a mechanical arm, which was used to map the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain chain in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1977 he was part of an expedition that uncovered thermal vents in the Galapagos Rift. The presence of plant and animal life within these deep-sea warm springs led to the discovery of chemosynthesis, the chemical synthesis of food energy. To advance deepwater exploration, Ballard designed a series of high-tech vessels, most notably the Argo-Jason, an automated system that enabled a remote-controlled camera to explore the ocean depths while transmitting live images to a monitor; scientists thus could survey the site and maneuver the camera. It was used to locate the Titanic and numerous other shipwrecks, including the Lusitania and Bismarck. Ballard, a commander in the navy, left Woods Hole in 1997 to head the Institute for Exploration, Mystic, Conn., a centre for deep-sea archaeology. AMY TIKKANEN Binoche, Juliette The French actress Juliette Binoche had a face that was mesmerizing, not only because of its obvious beauty--dark hair and eyes, pale complexion, and pink cheeks--but also because of a countenance that conveyed an innocence and mystery reminiscent of the heroines of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry. Without speaking, Binoche could relate a range of emotions--despair, surprise, loneliness, contentment, in a direct way, without falling into clich. Her performances in The English Patient (1996), Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993; Blue), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) were notable for their complex characterizations that were both illuminating and shaded. She was able to hold the attention of audiences by revealing her characters while being careful not to reveal too much. In 1997 Binoche's hold on audiences won her the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in The English Patient and a place in the first rank of international cinema stars. In The English Patient Binoche played Hana, a French-Canadian nurse stationed in Italy during World War II. To prepare for the role, she talked with a number of nurses who had served during the war. Inspired by the experiences of those women, Binoche was able to present Hana as a strong, caring woman emotionally devastated by the loss and suffering around her. Through the course of the film, she revealed Hana's resiliency and her struggle to regain her faith in life and love. In addition to her Oscar, Binoche received the Silver Berlin Bear for best actress at the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival for her memorable portrayal of Hana. Binoche was born on March 9, 1964, in Paris. Her father was a sculptor and a theatre director; her mother was a teacher and actress. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she remained in the custody of her mother, who encouraged her to try acting. After she completed her general education, Binoche studied acting at the Paris Conservatoire and received private instruction from Vera Gregh, a renowned teacher of film acting. She appeared on the stages of Paris in the late 1970s, performing in works by Molire, Eugne Ionesco, and Luigi Pirandello among others. In the first half of the 1980s, she appeared in small film roles and on French television. Her first important break came in 1984 when she auditioned for a role in Jean-Luc Godard's Je vous salue, Marie (1985; Hail Mary). Though she was initially rejected, she left such an impression on Godard that he wrote a new part into the screenplay expressly for her. The same year Binoche landed one of the lead roles in Andr Tchin's Rendez-vous (1985), which won broad acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival. Her portrayal of Nina, a provincial woman aspiring to be an actress in Paris, garnered much attention from critics and earned her the 1986 Romy-Schneider Prize, awarded by French journalists to the outstanding actress of the year. The next year she became romantically involved with the French director Los Carax, with whom she made two films--Mauvais sang (1986; Bad Blood) and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991; Lovers on the Pont-Neuf). The Unbearable Lightness of Being was her first English-language film and the first film to bring her talents effectively to the attention of the international public. JAMES HENNELLY Blair, Tony On May 1, 1997, Tony Blair led Britain's Labour Party to its biggest-ever election victory. The following day he became the U.K.'s youngest prime minister since William Pitt the Younger at the end of the 18th century. Blair was just 43. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh on May 6, 1953. After graduating from the University of Oxford in 1975, he became a barrister. He was elected to the House of Commons for the safe Labour constituency of Sedgefield, in the county of Durham, in the general election of 1983, when Labour sustained its heaviest defeat since 1935. Blair belonged to a generation of young, open-minded Labour MPs who wanted the party to abandon its traditional devotion to state socialism. Pro-European unity and pro-NATO, he was one of the keenest supporters of Neil Kinnock, who, as party leader from 1983 to 1992, sought to modernize Labour. Blair was elected to the shadow cabinet by his fellow Labour MPs in 1988, when he was just 35. In 1992, after Labour's fourth successive election defeat, Kinnock resigned and John Smith became party leader. As shadow home secretary, Blair sought to jettison Labour's image of being "soft" on criminals. He employed the phrase "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" to summarize Labour's policies and attacked the Conservatives for their failure to tackle the underlying social causes of rising crime. While bolstering his public image, Blair sought to speed up the process of party modernization and was frustrated at what he felt was Smith's unwillingness to bring the party's constitution and economic and industrial policies up-to-date. In May 1994 Smith died suddenly of a heart attack. There was little doubt who would win the contest to succeed him, and on July 21 Blair became party leader. About two months later he told Labour's annual conference that he wished to rewrite the party's constitution and abandon its commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange." At a special conference in April 1995, he secured agreement to a new set of party objectives that explicitly acknowledged the virtues of market competition. Blair also sought to woo the middle classes by promising not to increase the standard rate or higher rates of the income tax. Within the Labour Party he acted to make it a more effective election-fighting force. He borrowed a number of techniques developed in U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton's 1992 and 1996 election campaigns; for example, he established a "rapid rebuttal" unit, employing the most up-to-date information technology, to respond swiftly to statements made by Labour's rivals. Blair summed up his reforms by describing his party not as Labour but as New Labour. On the morning of May 2, following his landslide election victory, Blair said, "We were elected as New Labour; we will govern as New Labour." Fears that the party might break its pre-election promises, especially on taxation, were quickly quelled. Labour, and Blair personally, entered an extended honeymoon period with an electorate mostly delighted to see the end of the Conservative regime. Blair's opinion-poll ratings during the second half of 1997 were the highest for any prime minister since Winston Churchill, though late in the year his support was somewhat eroded by cuts in welfare benefits and reports of a tax haven for wealthy government ministers. PETER KELLNER Bowman, William Scott In 1997 Scotty Bowman demonstrated why many considered him the greatest coach in the history of the National Hockey League as he posted his 1,000th regular-season victory, an NHL record, en route to guiding the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup championship, the team's first in 42 years. With the title--Bowman's seventh behind the bench--he became the only coach to win the Cup with three different teams, and he moved within one championship of Hector ("Toe") Blake's record (eight). Already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (1991), Bowman had rewritten the NHL record books during his 30 years in the league. Amid speculation that he would retire after the 1996-97 season, he signed a two-year contract extension to stay on as Detroit's coach. Born on Sept. 18, 1933, in Montreal, Bowman dreamed of skating in the NHL, but a severe head injury sustained in junior hockey ended his playing career. He began coaching, working the bench for numerous youth, junior, and minor league teams until 1967, when he took over the reins of the St. Louis Blues, an NHL expansion team. He led the club to three Stanley Cup finals before signing with the Montreal Canadiens in 1971. Bowman quickly established Montreal as the NHL's dominant team of the 1970s, guiding it to five championships (1973 and 1976-79). In 1977 he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year. After a stint with the Buffalo Sabres as general manager and, at times, coach (1979-87), Bowman joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "Hockey Night in Canada" as a television commentator. In 1990 he returned to the NHL as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins' front office. As director of player development, he helped the club win the 1991 championship. When the team's coach, Bob Johnson, became ill during the 1991-92 season, Bowman assumed the responsibilities behind the bench, and the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions. By the time he joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1993, Bowman had become as known for his mind games as for his line changes, often switching players' positions and threatening trades to motivate his athletes. Controlling and uncompromising, he often drew the ire of players and fans. His methods, however, produced results. Under his leadership the Wings finished the regular season first overall in 1995 and 1996, reached the 1995 Stanley Cup finals, and set an NHL record for most wins (62) in a season (1995-96). During the 1995-96 campaign, Bowman broke Al Arbour's record of games coached (1,606) and received his second Jack Adams Award. After Detroit swept the Philadelphia Flyers to win the 1997 championship, Bowman donned a pair of skates to take a victory lap with hockey's Holy Grail. The move was unprecedented, as were most of Bowman's achievements.AMY TIKKANEN Crdenas Solrzano, Cuauhtmoc In December 1997 Mexican leftist-opposition leader Cuauhtmoc Crdenas of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) was sworn in as mayor of Mexico City, the first-ever elected mayor of North America's largest city. Previously, the president of Mexico had appointed the mayor. Having won the July 6 election in a landslide, with 47% of the vote, he had the largest margin of victory by an opposition leader since 1929. The governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) polled 26% of the vote, followed by the right-wing National Action Party, which registered 16%. His election represented an opportunity for change, especially to dispel the criminal reputation that the ruling PRI government had acquired for alleged drug trafficking, bribery, and political assassination. Crdenas was born on May 1, 1934, the year that his father, Gen. Lzaro Crdenas del Ro, became president of Mexico. Raised within the confines of Los Pinos, the presidential palace, he led a privileged life. Later, after having worked almost 20 years in engineering, Crdenas launched a political career and was elected (1976) to the Senate. In 1980, as a member of the PRI, he began a six-year term as governor of Michoacn, his father's native state. Disillusioned with PRI maneuvers to undo reforms instituted by his father, Crdenas split with the party in 1987. The following year he headed a coalition comprising Socialists and former Communists and made a bid for the presidency. In what Crdenas believed to be an act of intimidation, his top campaign aide was murdered shortly before the election. While ballots were being tabulated, the government abruptly ended the count, declaring PRI candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari president. Crdenas continued to campaign during Gortari's six-year presidency, however, but ran third in the 1994 presidential election. In retaliation for Crdenas's outspoken stand against government privatization and the North American Free Trade Agreement, Salinas's government targeted Crdenas and his supporters. From 1988 to 1994 approximately 500 activists affiliated with the PRD were murdered. Crdenas returned, however, to clinch the 1997 Mexico City race for mayor. Promising to tackle problems never before addressed by PRI leaders, he campaigned against poverty, corruption, crime, and pollution--issues that had plagued Mexico City for years. His campaign trips into some of the poorest districts in Mexico City gained him favour in the eyes of the poor and middle class, who were discouraged by the lack of progress within the city and the criminal allegations surrounding the PRI.HEATHER A. BLACKMORE Carrey, Jim In 1997 comedian Jim Carrey again hit it big, this time with the film Liar Liar, in which he played a fast-talking lawyer forced--by a magic spell invoked by his young son by means of a birthday wish--to tell the truth for one day. It was an important turnaround for Carrey after the public's less-than-enthusiastic reception for his $20 million performance as an obnoxious cable television installer in the 1996 black comedy The Cable Guy. Known for his racing energy level and frenetic improvisation, Carrey had a comic appeal that was mainly visual. With absolute control over his rubbery face, he was a technically brilliant mimic and boasted over 100 characterizations, with a repertoire ranging from Humphrey Bogart to Kermit the Frog. Carrey, who began his career as a stand-up comic, specialized in simple look-and-laugh escapist comedy routines. His success as the star of the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) enabled him to command large salaries for subsequent movies. In 1995 he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in The Mask (1994), a variation of the Jekyll and Hyde story based on a popular comic-book character. In this film Carrey played a timid bank clerk who becomes a hip, wisecracking (albeit green-faced) dandy when he dons a magical mask. Born on Jan. 17, 1962, in New Market, Ont., James Eugene Carrey grew up in and around Toronto. At age eight he began making faces before a mirror and discovered a talent for doing impressions. After leaving school in 1978 to help support his family, Carrey worked for two years as a janitor in a factory. He made his professional debut as a stand-up comedian in a Toronto club at the age of 15 and by 1979 had found that he was able to make a living as a comedian. He wrote most of his own material as an opening act for such comics as Buddy Hackett and Rodney Dangerfield. At the age of 19 he moved to Hollywood, where he acted in films and on television. In 1983 Carrey played a role in the Canadian television film Introducing . . . Janet, for which he was nominated for an ACTRA Award. In the television series "The Duck Factory," Carrey played a young cartoonist who worked in a Hollywood animation studio. His first TV special, "Jim Carrey's Unnatural Act," (1991) received rave reviews and led to a regular role in the TV series "In Living Color." He made his film debut in Finders Keepers (1984). After the success of the first Ace Ventura film, he made several more comedies in rapid succession, notably Dumb and Dumber (1994), The Mask, and the second Ace Ventura film, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). He also played the Riddler in the fil