LONDON - Russian oil magnate and Chukotka Gov. Roman Abramovich was named London’s Person of the Year 2003, a title conferred by readers of the Evening Standard newspaper, Izvestiya reports.

Abramovich, the new darling of English fans, thanks to his multimillion-dollar purchase of Chelsea Football this summer, received over 25 percent of the votes cast, beating such luminaries as London Mayor Ken Livingstone, famous cook Jeremy Oliver and several others who lagged far behind in the poll.

For instance, the second contender, David Chick — who had fought for his rights as a father by dressing as a Spiderman and climbing to a lifting crane — had 19 percent of votes.