Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev may have been the most famous man in the U.S.S.R., but his daughter Galina also attracted more than her share of attention. I'll set down the truth behind the rumors this week. Meanwhile, Russia has always been a country of inventors, and I'll take a look at the man who beat Marconi to the post in inventing the radio as well as remembering the events that forged a nation 10 years ago.

Q: Was Brezhnev's daughter Galina all that the rumors say she was? – John Miller, San Francisco, U.S.A.

A: When Galina was 64 her husband-to-be was 24 and a provincial businessman. But, she did not marry him. She was undergoing treatment for alcoholism at the Central Kremlin Hospital, where she was a regular client. She was begging to be allowed to go home, saying she was in love and through with vodka for good.

Galina was married three times. Her first husband was a circus performer who was twice her age. In her youth, she wanted to be a circus performer, but ended up in charge of costumes. Her second husband was KIO, a circus magician. He was 18 when she was 33. This time she, was almost twice as old as her spouse.

In 1971, she married a minor official of the Ministry for Home Affairs – Yury Churbanov. A very handsome man. After a whirlwind career, Churbanov was arrested for corruption. His highest post was deputy minister for Home Affairs. I suppose father-in-law Brezhnev helped.

She also had an affair with a gypsy actor aged 29, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for speculation. I remember her appearance on British TV: a drunken, toothless face, and I could hear four-letter words in Russian behind the English text. She said dad never refused her anything. The papers wrote Galina engaged in illegal trade in diamonds. She made constant trips abroad, had many lovers and participated in drunken orgies. That is the sad story of Galina, daughter of Leonid Brezhnev.

Q: Do many people know that the Russian Nobel Prize winner Alexander Prokhorov was born in Atherton, Queensland, Australia, in 19l6? Also, how many inventions and discoveries did the Soviet Union claim? – Colin Stewart, Broken Hill, Australia.

A: Practically all the papers I've seen mention his place of birth, though I dare say not everybody knows who Prokhorov was. He was twice Hero of Socialist Labor and headed our "Star Wars" program. He refused to be exempt from army service and went to serve in a reconnaissance unit. He was badly wounded and was awarded several medals. Prokhorov turned down work in the United States. That's Alexander Prokhorov, Nobel Prize winner.

When it comes to discoveries, in Soviet times they claimed that Russia invented everything except perhaps the wheel. The locomotive? That was Stephenson. The airplane? The Wright Brothers came up with that one. The electric bulb? Edison. The list is a long one. But Popov, a Russian, invented the radio.

The description and design were published in a magazine and he was the first to receive and send radio signals. This was admitted by the World Electro-Technical Congress in Paris, which awarded Popov a gold medal and Diploma of Honor for inventing the radio. It was he who got the award, not Marconi.

Q: It would be interesting to hear your reminiscences of the tumultuous days of 10 years ago in August 1991. – William Kerr, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

A: A few small events connected with the putsch, the attempted uprising, remain in my memory. How Vice President Gennady Yanayev's hands shook – they kept showing it close up on TV. How, after it was all over, Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, like a little boy, asked to be forgiven.

Outside the Moscow White House, people in those days stood round the clock holding hands, as a symbol of unity. I cannot forget how Yeltsin freed Gorbachev from house arrest in the Crimea, and flew him to Moscow. And how, at the first press conference, Gorbachev said: "I am for the Communist choice." But what scared many were the crawling columns of tanks and armored troop carriers.

The putsch organizers wanted to return us to the historical dead-end that was the Soviet system. The putsch was badly organized, unplanned and they did not have the support of the tanks that were all over the city. Young men climbed onto the tanks and urged the men inside to join them. You should hear the shrieks of approval when the tanks hoisted the white, blue and red flag. They did not open fire.

Finally, Yazov ordered the tanks to leave Moscow. Yeltsin did not for a moment leave the White House and will be remembered addressing the people standing atop a tank. Those who started it all should have known that a revolution, an uprising, cannot succeed without the support of the army. The army did not support them. And finally, you can't bring back the old totalitarian system, any more than you can bring back slavery to the United States.

Some of those who took part in the putsch 10 years ago are again holding official positions in the Duma and various executive posts.

(E-mail questions to Joe Adamov at editor@russiajournal.com.)