Rudolf Nureyev: The Life

NOW A MAJOR FILM BY RALPH FIENNES, THE WHITE CROW

''A gripping account of an extraordinary life'' Daily Telegraph

Born on a train in Stalin''s Russia, Rudolf Nureyev was ballet''s first pop icon. No other dancer of our time has generated the same excitement - both on and off stage.

Nureyev''s achievements and conquests became legendary: he rose out of Tatar peasant poverty to become the Kirov''s thrilling maverick star; slept with his beloved mentor''s wife; defected to the West in 1961; sparked Rudimania across the globe; 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''s unknown ballet masterpieces in the West. He and his life were simply astonishing.

''Magnificent, a triumph. Captures every facet of this extraordinary man'' Mail on Sunday

''The definitive study of a man who, in his combination of aesthetic grace and psychological grime, can truly be called a sacred monster'' Observer

''Undoubtedly the definitive biography'' Sunday Telegraph