Born on a train in Stalin'e(tm)s Russia, Rudolf Nureyev was ballet'e(tm)s first pop icon. No other dancer of our time has generated the same excitement 'e" both on and off stage. Nureyev'e(tm)s achievements and conquests became legendary: he rose out of Tatar peasant poverty to become the Kirov'e(tm)s thrilling maverick star; slept with his beloved mentor'e(tm)s wife; defected to the West in l961; sparked Rudimania across the globe; gave his rabid sexuality full reign; established the most rhapsodic partnership in dance history with the middle-aged Margot Fonteyn; reinvented male technique; gatecrashed modern dance; moulded new stars; and staged Russia'e(tm)s unknown ballet masterpieces in the West. Julie Kavanagh'e(tm)s uncompromising and magnificent biography, ten years in the making, is a brilliant tribute to a superstar the world can never forget.