This week: a legendary US politician, a Manchester United coach and an anti-communist dissident

FORMER US representative John Dingell, who has died aged 92, was the longest-serving member of Congress in American history. The Michigan Democrat served in the US House for 59 years before retiring in 2014.

Dubbed "Big John" for his imposing 6ft 3in frame and sometimes intimidating manner, Mr Dingell served with every president from Dwight D Eisenhower to Barack Obama.

He was a longtime supporter of universal health care, a cause he adopted from his late father, whom he replaced in Congress in 1955.

He also was known as a dogged pursuer of government waste and fraud, and even helped take down two top presidential aides while leading the investigative arm of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chaired for 14 years.

One of his proudest moments came in 2010, when he sat next to Mr Obama as the 938 billion dollar health care overhaul was signed into law.

"Presidents come and presidents go," former president Bill Clinton said in 2005, when Mr Dingell celebrated 50 years in Congress. "John Dingell goes on forever."

Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on July 8 1926, John David Dingell Jr grew up in Michigan, where his father was elected to Congress as a "New Deal" Democrat in 1932.

Following the sudden death of his father in September 1955, Mr Dingell - then a 29-year-old lawyer - won a special election to succeed him.

He won more than two dozen elections during his career, at first representing a Detroit district but eventually shifting because of redistricting to various southeastern Michigan communities.

He became the longest-serving member of Congress on June 7 2013, when he surpassed the former record holder, the late Robert Byrd.

He announced in early 2014, at the age of 87, that he would not run for a 30th full term because he could not have lived up to his own standards.

Continuing the family tradition, his wife, Debbie, successfully ran for her husband's seat in 2014.

THE football coach Eric Harrison, who has died aged 81, was the former youth team coach of Manchester United's Class of 92 and forged the fledgling careers of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Gary and Phil Neville.

Appointed by then United manager Ron Atkinson in 1981, Harrison mentored a number of other high-profile youngsters, including Mark Hughes, Norman Whiteside, Wes Brown, David Platt and Darren Fletcher.

His greatest success came under Sir Alex Ferguson with the Class of 92 players forming the backbone of United's treble-winning side of 1999.

Harrison was awarded an MBE for services to football just over a year ago and at the time Alex Ferguson spoke about Harrison's qualities. "If you wanted a teacher who gave you the right path forward he was that man. I was really lucky as I got to know that," said Ferguson.

"Obviously the Class of 92 was the climax of his coaching career but all the young players who came through looked at his contribution.

"He was able to impart knowledge to them about the best way to be a footballer."

THE Polish politician Jan Olszewski, who has died aged 88, was an anti-communist dissident and former prime minister.

A Warsaw native born in 1930, he was a young teenager when he participated in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupiers of the country during the Second World War.

Under Soviet-backed communism, he was a lawyer who defended anti-communist dissidents in political trials.

In the 1980s he was a leading figure in the anti-communist Solidarity movement, helping to draft its founding charter. He also took part in the Round Table Talks in 1989 that negotiated a peaceful transition from communism to democracy.

He served as prime minster for six months from 1991 to 1992, making him the shortest-serving premier in Poland's post-communist era.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president and a former Polish prime minister, remembered his predecessor as a courageous defence attorney in political trials, a participant of Solidarity, and good man.

Many Polish officials praised Mr Olszewski for his service to the nation, describing him as a person of honour and honestly.

"Jan Olszewski was a person of crystal honesty and faithful to his views, and at the same time immensely courageous. He proved his steadfastness many times," prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.