HE WAS the guy who put the sexy into cricket, a smouldering-eyed dreamboat who had fans swooning.
Imran Khan retired at 40, but instead of doing what most pro sports people do – some coaching, maybe a bit of business – he went into politics.
And what a mixed bag that’s turned out to be. Imran (71), who became prime minister of Pakistan in 2018, has been in jail since August. But it hasn’t stopped his popularity. The party won the most seats in the recent general election.
Yet it remains to be seen what happens next. Politics is rarely simple, and for Imran, it’s been filled with drama. A near-death experience, claims of corruption, a controversial marriage . . . Imran has been there, done that. We look at his eventful life.
RISE TO GLORY
Imran comes from an upper-middle-class family in Lahore, Pakistan, and was sent to high school in the UK where he excelled in cricket.
He made his Test debut against England in 1971 and then enrolled at Oxford University for a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.
By the ’80s he was one of the most famous sportsmen in the world, bringing a new glamour to “the gentleman’s game”. He was also one of the finest fast bowlers cricket had seen, and led Pakistan to glory in the Cricket World Cup in 1992 (right) after telling his team to “fight like cornered tigers” in the final.
Imran was credited with making the game more appealing to the masses. “He was more or less singlehandedly responsible for sexualising what had been an austere, male-orientated activity,” his biographer Christopher Sandford says.
CRICKET’S PLAYBOY PRINCE
この記事は YOU South Africa の 22 February 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は YOU South Africa の 22 February 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
PUSHED TO THE LIMIT
The unusual relationship between an heiress and her husband has taken a sinister twist
HOW TO MAKE A SUPERBABY
Noor Siddiqui says her company can test embryos for hundreds of conditions from diabetes to Alzheimer's. Critics call it social engineering but she insists she's just giving prospective parents the means to avoid a lot of future heartache
THE GROWN-UP BRAIN
If you think your brain deteriorates as you age, think again!
THE eyes HAVE IT
They're the windows to our soul - and the first place to show the stresses of everyday life. Juliette Winter reveals expert tips to de-puff, brighten and smooth this delicate area
WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER
It hasn't been an easy road but now this bodybuilding couple are making waves in the industry
I CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER!
Annetjie's about to get effective treatment for the skin condition that has blighted her life and she's looking forward to hitting the shops and facing the world
'SHE NO THREAT TO ANYONE'
When SA boxer Chris van Heerden's Russian girlfriend went to visit her parents she was thrown in jail and accused of treasonnow he's in a fight to free her
SUNK IN 16 MINUTES!
A sun-drenched holiday turned into a living nightmare for those aboard this luxury vessel
READY TO SMILE AGAIN
A groundbreaking surgical procedure will restore this Limpopo teen's badly damaged jaw and teeth
HARRY AT A CROSSROADS
As the prince turns 40, royal experts paint a picture of a troubled soul- isolated, homesick and struggling to find a purpose in life