Nelson Mandela – a life in photos

NELSON Mandela was the most famous prisoner in the world. Then South Africa saw sense and the light. The country’s white leaders let him go. He became a global superstar. Celebrities formed a line outside his lounge to meet him. Heads of State swooned – including some nasty characters. Nelson met them all evenly:

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Nelson Mandela, President of the African National Congress, addresses an election rally in Thaba Nchu in the black homeland Bophuthatswana, 240 miles southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, April 21, 1994. There are only five days to go until South Africa's first all-race general elections. (AP Photo/David Brauchli)