Lech Walesa

Lech Walesa's sharp wit and blue-collar sensibilities helped him rise from a shipyard electrician in Gdansk, Poland, to a beloved union leader (in 1983 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of workers) to the Polish presidency. Now, seven years after losing a bid for re-election, he's using his people skills as the host of a fishing show set to debut on Polish public TV this month. An ardent angler—"I like to catch perch because they fight valiantly when being dragged," he says—the former Solidarity leader will work for no pay. "I haven't any place to make a revolution, so I may take some other topic," says Walesa. "They will show something about fish, about ecology. Maybe in bad weather we shall talk while awaiting these fish, about the past, about the present, about the European Union. You know, what do you think about when fish don't take?"

Walesa, 58, was a force in Eastern Europe's move toward free-market economies, and though his latest run for the presidency failed in 2000, insiders think he'll hook viewers. "This is a guy who took down the Berlin Wall," says Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Poland. "I don't think he's going to have any problem."