Born on December 21, 1949, at Yako in the dusty north of what was then Upper Volta, Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was 12 when his homeland attained independence from France.

As the leader of his country through an August coup in 1983, Sankara would rename the country, Burkina Faso, or "land of the upright people", and introduce progressist policies that distanced his regime from other former colonies in what France regarded as its backyard in Africa.

Sankara was a lean and good-looking soldier with a ready smile. A lover of football and other sports, he was also a hard-working authoritarian who slept little and always wore battledress, with a mother-of-pearl pistol tucked into his belt -- a gift from North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.

He lived with his wife and two sons in a rundown presidential palace and his main worldly goods were a guitar and a second-hand Renault 5.

How well do you know Sankara? We have compiled the top 13 interesting facts you may not know about “Africa’s Che Guevara” in this video.

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