Faces of the year - the men
Some of the men who have made the headlines in 2008, clockwise from top left: Radovan Karadzic, John Sergeant, Josef Fritzl, Usain Bolt, John Coward, Rafa Nadal, Damian Green, Jay-Z, Max Mosely, Nathaniel Rothschild, David Axelrod and Henry Conway. Click herefor the women of the year.
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RADOVAN KARADZICThe former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, was finally apprehended after 12 years on the run. He faces 11 charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. They include genocide relating to his orchestrating the mass murder of tens of thousands of Bosnians, mainly Muslims, during the civil war in Bosnia, which ended 1995. Karadzic initially evaded capture by surrounding himself with sympathisers and flitting between farmsteads, monasteries and caves. He never used a mobile phone for fear of being detected by the US intelligence services. Later, he adopted the disguise of a new-age faith healer called Dragan Dabic, with long white flowing locks. He was arrested on a Belgrade bus.
JOHN SERGEANTJohn Sergeant is "normal" in that he is a bloke who can't dance. This ought to have been a huge disadvantage since he took part in the BBC's highly popular TV show, Strictly Come Dancing. Week after week, the judges poured scorn on his pedestrian, uncoordinated routines. Yet, week after week, the public voted for him to remain in the show at the expense of more talented contestants. Arguments broke out as to whether this was a dance show or simply an entertainment spectacle. Then, halfway through the series, Sergeant pulled out saying that "there was a real chance I could win and that would be a joke too far". His partner, Kristina Rihanoff claimed the judges had driven him out. One judge, Craig Revel Horwood, dismissed this and accused Sergeant of being "cowardly".
JOSEF FRITZLRetired electrical engineer Josef Fritzl was arrested for a crime that shocked the world. He confessed to holding his daughter Elisabeth captive in an underground bunker for 24 years in the provincial Austrian town of Amstetten. What's more, he repeatedly raped her and fathered seven children by her. The case only came to light when Mr Fritzl allowed one of his children to seek hospital treatment. Mr Fritzl was formally charged in November with murder, rape, slavery, incest, mental torture and false imprisonment. The murder charge relates to one of the incest children who died as a child. Mr Fritzl told police he destroyed the corpse by throwing it into his heating furnace. Three of his offspring were allowed to live with Mr Fritzl and his wife as "normal" children in their home upstairs, while the others stayed with their mother.
USAIN BOLTThe 6ft 5in Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt left Beijing flying high after becoming the first man to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984. He was also the first man in history to set world records in all three at a single Olympic Games. His 9.62 seconds 100m record would have been even better had he not begun celebrating before he crossed the finish line. Bolt then smashed Michael Johnson's 200m world record that had stood for 12 years, in a time of 19.3 seconds. Finally, he and his three Jamaican teammates took the Olympic gold in the relay in a time of 37.10 seconds. Not surprisingly, he earned the nickname Lightning Bolt.
JOHN COWARDDespite his name, John Coward is anything but cowardly. He was at the controls of a Boeing 777 when it was coming in to land at Heathrow airport on a British Airways flight from Beijing. Without warning, the plane stalled. He said later: "I thought this is going to be a catastrophic crash. This is it." However, Mr Coward managed to keep the plane's nose up, clear the fence and maintain the aircraft in a straight line until it shuddered to a halt. Investigators believe the engine failure was probably caused by ice restricting the flow of fuel. One airport worker said of Mr Coward: "The man deserves a medal as big as a frying pan."
RAFA NADALRafa Nadal's victory over Roger Federer at this year's Wimbledon men's final is regarded as a classic. The Spanish player had been threatening the Swiss's status as world number one for many months. But the manner in which it was achieved left every tennis fan breathless. The gruelling five-setter ended in near darkness prompting one leading sports columnist to declare it as "the greatest sporting event I've ever seen". Even John McEnroe agreed that it had eclipsed his epic 1980 final against Bjorn Borg. With his rippling biceps, his rocket forehands and his never-say-die attitude, Nadal had defeated arguably the most complete tennis player ever in Federer. Nadal went on to take the Olympic gold in Beijing, though knee problems hampered his progress in later tournaments.
HENRY CONWAYThe son of the now-disgraced Tory MP Derek Conway first came to the public's attention when it was revealed he was receiving
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