article: Mr Varoufakis, 53, is not only a well-respected political economist, but a charismatic man and natural charmer. A few weeks after his appointment, he has become something of a global celebrity. That is hardly surprising for Greeks - after all, Mr Varoufakis got more votes than any other candidate in the 25 January general election that swept the leftist Syriza party into power. In the wake of victory he immediately embarked on a European tour that took him to London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. The sight of a shaven-headed, athletic minister refusing to tuck his shirt into his trousers or wear a tie - even while visiting 11 Downing Street - fascinated business reporters, fashion editors and gossip columnists. Even the German media - among Greece's sternest critics - seemed impressed. ZDF television anchor Marietta Slomka said "he is someone you could imagine starring in a film like Die Hard 6", and conservative daily Die Welt ran the headline "What makes Yanis Varoufakis a sex icon". In his home country, a new word was coined - "Varoufitses" - to describe women who idolise Mr Varoufakis. At the time of writing, Mr Varoufakis had 128,000 Twitter followers, a number of devoted fan pages on Facebook, and he has inspired a video game "Syrizaman Vs Troika". His eurozone colleagues may not find him quite so charming. In his first meeting with them on 11 February he refused to approve a common statement by the Eurogroup that implied Athens would seek an extension of its bailout. "Simple logic dictates that if you cannot even conceive the possibility of leaving a negotiation, then it is preferable never to enter one," he wrote in a blog entry back in May 2010. Varoufakis soundbites Mr Varoufakis showed signs of defiance and non-conformism from a very early age. That includes deliberately misspelling his name Yanis, writing it with only one "n" since elementary school. "I had an aesthetic problem with the double "n"," he said. "So I decided to write my name with one. My teacher gave me a bad grade, which made me very angry and I've kept writing my name with one "n" ever since." Mr Varoufakis was born on 24 March 1961 in Athens. He is a graduate of the Moraitis private school, which has nurtured many members of Greece's political and economic elite. His father, 89-year-old Giorgos Varoufakis, is chairman of Halyvourgiki, a Greek industrial giant. This background of relative privilege did not prevent Mr Varoufakis from becoming a libertarian Marxist, who has said that "Karl Marx was responsible for framing my perspective of the world we live in, from my childhood to this day". After receiving his doctorate from the University of Essex he spent a couple of years teaching there and at the University of East Anglia. But Margaret Thatcher's third election victory in 1987 proved too much to bear for Mr Varoufakis, who started to "plan his escape" from Britain. His escape destination was not Greece, but Australia, where he taught economics at the University of Sydney. He finally returned to Athens
summary: Greece's left-wing Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is leading the offensive to persuade the nation's creditors to end austerity and forgive part of its debt.