Yasser Arafat will be Gorbachev's first interviewee

Geriatric inactivity and ill health are perhaps what ageing Soviet leaders are better known for. Not Mikhail Gorbachev. He celebrates his 70th birthday next week.

Having been a Communist general secretary, think tank chairman and international lecturer, Mr Gorbachev's latest incarnation is as a television presenter.

Baroness Thatcher, the Pope and Nelson Mandela are said to be among 13 world figures lined up to appear in a series called "Secrets of Power", hosted by Mr Gorbachev.

His Moscow office says filming with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat begins in late March, and in early April he will be talking to George Bush Sr.

No to Yeltsin

Munich-based Zolzer Television is behind the project. They say Gorbachev will visit his guests' homes, and key locations such as the site of the Berlin Wall, as they discuss their role in history.

A frosty "nyet" for Boris Yeltsin

One personality who will not appear is Boris Yeltsin. There is still no love lost between the former rivals for power.

Asked if the two would meet, a spokesman for Mr Gorbachev replied with a distinctly frosty "nyet".

Mikhail Gorbachev is still widely despised at home for plunging his people into turmoil.

But his grip on the imagination of the west seems undiminished. As a guest speaker he commands huge sums.

The American Pizza Hut chain engaged him to promote the pleasures of fast food in a television commercial.

The man remembered for dismantling communism remains one of capitalism's hottest brands.