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                                                                                PEOPLE, Page 72

THE BEST OF 1992


    1. Princess Di

    Next time Oprah needs a classy Exhibit A for a show on
"Women Who Escape Stifling Marriages," she'll know whom to call.
If three 1992 bios are to be believed, Di's fabled marriage to
Prince Charles dwindled into misery so great it led to bouts of
bulimia and suicide attempts (not to mention rumored dalliances
on both sides, complete with saucy telephone tapes). It all
ended with a courtly separation announced in Parliament by
British Prime Minister John Major: Di may no longer crown
Charles' happiness, but she's still a princess with a prayer of
becoming a Queen.

    2. Woody Allen

    The movie world's comic existentialist put a new spin on
family values, taking up with the 21-year-old adopted daughter
of his longtime consort and co-star, Mia Farrow. A bitter Mia
countered with an ugly custody battle over other children, plus
charges of child abuse. The tabloid tumult didn't play as well
as expected at the box office: despite often disconcerting
similarities to the seamy offscreen rift, Allen's dark,
disturbing Husbands and Wives faded all too quickly. Sometimes
life is brief and art is even briefer.

    3. Madonna

    Her new album Erotica wasn't, and her needlessly strenuous
exercise in soft-core self-promotion, Sex, only demonstrated
that for this increasingly marginal boy toy, the ultimate
aphrodisiac is p.r. The album's sales didn't measure up, but
Sex, with its shamelessly derivative photos of Madonna and
partners in positions that looked like backroom Jack LaLanne
workouts, is bidding to be the all-time best-selling illustrated
book. Once curious, forever sated. Career advice: Shut up. And
get dressed.

    4. Rush Limbaugh

    Deride and conquer. Not content with 14 million listeners
to his midday radio harangue against all things liberal, this
laughing gasbag of right-wing Republicanism became a multimedia
motormouth. His invasion of late-night TV left the pricier
competition dented; Whoopi is still whimpering. His book The Way
Things Ought to Be sat at the top of the best-seller list before
and after Madonna peddled her Sex. Memo to the G.O.P.: Rush in
'96?

    5. Barbra Streisand

    By aggressively endorsing an Aspen boycott after Colorado
adopted a measure banning homosexual-rights bills, Streisand
managed to keep some celebrities off the slopes. But her
overblown snow job (the city of Aspen actually voted against the
resolution) may have made her new enemies in Hollywood. She did
make two friends, though: tennis ace Andre Agassi -- they
flirted at the U.S. Open -- and Sony, which signed her to a
long-term deal worth at least $60 million (to sing, not give
speeches).

    6. Bobby Fischer

    The moody chess master, coming out of self-imposed exile
20 years after beating Boris Spassky for the world
championship, played a highly hyped rematch in, of all places,
war-torn Yugoslavia. Spassky was creamed, 10 games to 5, but
still picked up $1.65 million. Fischer's winnings ($3.35
million) may go to lawyers: Uncle Sam wants to checkmate him for
violating sanctions against Yugoslavia. Fischer's next move?
Sell film rights to his life story, which could be called Stale
Mate.

    7. Ice-T

    Not everyone bought the First Amendment argument. Not
Charlton Heston. Not Oliver North. And certainly not the boys
in blue. The controversial rapper's violent antipolice anthem
Cop Killer (sample lyrics: "I'm 'bout to dust some cops off .
. . Die, die, die pig die!") sparked debates, protests and
boycotts. Finally Ice couldn't take the heat, so he yanked the
tune from his album Body Count but promised to offer the single
for free at concerts.

    8. Sinead O'Connor

    In retrospect, her 1992 album Am I Not Your Girl? should
have been titled Am I Not Your Singing Conspiracy Theorist?
Sinead explained why she ripped up a picture of the Pope on live
television by claiming that the Catholic Church is "responsible
for all of the destruction we see in the world today." That
position seemed overstated even to aging hippies, who helped boo
the bold, bald one off the stage at a Bob Dylan tribute.

    9. David Letterman

    With a $14 million-plus offer from CBS, Letterman could
afford to stay above the fray as other post-Carson contenders
wrestled for the late-night mantle. New Tonight show curtain
parter Jay Leno took it on his giant jaw from critics and from
rival Arsenio Hall, who threatened more literal bodily harm.
Canceled host Dennis Miller trashed Leno's booking tactics, and
NBC canned Leno's producer. Jay could be next: to keep
Letterman, who was passed over for Carson's job, NBC would have
to dump Leno. Somewhere, Ed McMahon is laughing.

    10. Howard Stern

    To radio's naughty boy, the most obscene three-letter word
is FCC. Government broadcast censors fined Stern's bosses
$600,000 because the shock jock's defiantly obnoxious humor
allegedly offended "community standards." But since Stern's
morning show is No. 1 in New York City, Los Angeles and
Philadelphia, he is obviously appealing to community standards
there -- even as he stretches, mutilates and lowers them. If
millions of commuters want to listen to a striptease, that
should be their problem, not the FCC's.