Alex Salmond

Age: 57
Occupation: First Minister of Scotland

As Scotland plans a referendum on independence, the very real possibility that the United Kingdom may disunite raises all sorts of questions: Who owns the oil fields off Scotland's coast? And how on earth did Scottish independence, a dream of Scottish nationalists since the Acts of Union joined together England and Scotland in 1707, suddenly come this close to reality? The answer to the latter question is Salmond, a wily politician who may achieve for Scotland what William Wallace could not: freedom from Westminster.

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