On the Record: Jan. 28, 1985

Fidel Castro, 57, during a meeting with Democratic Congressman Bill Alexander of Arkansas: “I am a Christian (because Christianity provides) people with hard, concrete values.”

Stephen Spender, 75, British poet, chosen by the fashion fortnightly W as an exemplar of style, defining that quality: “Three parts natural grace, one part sense of period and two parts eccentricity.”