Portrait of the week
Konstantin Chernenko, 72, emerged as the new leader of the Soviet Union five days after the death of Yuri Andropov, who had reigned for only fifteen months unseen in public for nearly half that time while he was dying of a kidney disease. Reports from Moscow suggested that sup- porters of younger proteges of Andropov — notably Mikhail Gorbachev and Gregory Romanov — put up a spirited, if unsuc- cessful, resistance to the election of Chernenko by the 300-member Central Committee. Chernenko, a Siberian, owes his lofty position in the Soviet leadership to the late Leonid Brezhnev, whom Andropov succeeded, although he was considered to have suffered a permanent setback when his rival became leader. Having disproved this theory, thanks to Andropov's early demise, he was immediately dismissed by some observers as a stopgap leader keeping the seat warm for a younger generation. In his inaugural speech, nervously delivered, Chernenko appeared to revive Brezhnev's policy of detente with the West, while vow- ing to strengthen the defence capacity of the Soviet Union. President Reagan, whose hostility towards the Soviet Union has ap- peared to soften since he announced that he would be standing for a second presidential term, did not attend Andropov's funeral: Vice-President Bush went in his place, and Mrs Thatcher, who was absent from Brezhnev's funeral, made the journey to Moscow, amidst speculation that she is preparing a new initiative towards the Eastern bloc. Meanwhile, far away from Moscow, a possible link with the Russia of the Czars died in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mrs Anna Anderson Manahan, who claim- ed to be the sole surviving daughter of the last of the Czars, Nicholas II, and the only member of the family to survive the Bolshevik massacre of her parents and sibl- ings in the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg in 1918, was 82: in spite of prolonged litiga- tion, Mrs Manahan was never able to establish that she was indeed the Grand Duchess Anastasia, although her claim in- spired two successful Hollywood films.
At home, secret talks were opened bet- ween Sir Robert Armstrong, head of the Civil Service, and the Civil Service trade unions over the ban on union membership imposed by the Government on employees at the secret communications centre at Cheltenham: proposals emerged which, it was suggested, might lead to the Govern- ment taking a less adamant line. St Paul's Cathedral has decided to charge coach visitors 50p a head from next year in a bid to reduce a deficit of £90,000. Buckingham Palace announced, amid general media re- joicing, that the Princess of Wales is expec- ting her second child in late September. In Australia, pop star Elton John married hit West German fiancee Renata Blauel after receiving a special dispensation from the New South Wales government waiving a 30-day residential qualification. The BBC bowed to Conservative Party pressure 13) agreeing to investigate complaints about a Panorama programme on right-wing in- filtration into the Party: Tory chairman John Gummer had threatened 'very serious action' and five other MPs have issued writs for libel. Artist and picture-forger To,rn Keating, who claimed to have faked 2,a/u paintings by artists including Rembrandt, Goya, Renoir and Turner, died aged 66 011 the eve of a Channel Four. series on his work.
President Gemayel of Lebanon Was under increasing pressure to abrogat! the troop withdrawal treaty he signed vat" Israel last year, as his own crumbling army lost more key positions to the Druze Labour leader Neil Kinnock used his five" day tour of the US to shock Congressmen with his unilateralist policies and to quarrel with Secretary of State George Schultz over Central America: Mr Kinnock claimed that Mr Shultz had 'got out of his pram' a colloquialism, he said, signifying a depot.: ture from calm, diplomatic expression' President Reagan, however, he described as 'a friendly sort of chap'. On the aline front, four women who smuggled krugeP rands from Jersey hidden in their corsets i. and knickers as part of a £750,000 fraud were given prison sentences of uP to eighteen months. Three robbers who broke l into a newsagent's shop in Peckham, South ,‘ London, cut off the toe of the shopkeeper and attempted to amputate his ear: the_ haul was £100. Christopher Dean and JaYric, Torvill won the gold medal in the ice danet ing competition at the Winter OlymPics as Sarajevo, earning a dozen perfect 6.0 Markai from the judges. England drew the fin Test with New Zealand but lost the series'
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