I speak of none other than Turkmenistan's Sapurmurat Niyazov, who built himself the biggest cult of personality this side of Pyongyang.

Excerpts from the BBC story:

During his reign, Mr Niyazov established a cult of personality in which he was styled as Turkmenbashi, or Leader of all Turkmens.

He renamed months and days in the calendar after himself and his family, and ordered statues of himself to be erected throughout the desert nation.

Cities, an airport and a meteorite were given his name.

Mr Niyazov was intolerant of criticism and allowed no political opposition or free media in the nation of five million people.

His laws became increasingly personal. It was forbidden to listen to car radios or smoke in public, or for young men to wear beards. ...

"President Niyazov was in effect the state and what he decreed on any subject, from politics, to culture to science, was absolute law," says Michael Hall, Central Asia project director for the International Crisis Group.

His death will come as a psychological blow for most of the country.

"There has been an entire generation of young Turkmens who have been brought up in exactly this spirit, but at the same time there is an older generation who do remember what life was like before Niyazov came to power... But for a very large part of the population this will come as a great blow," he told the BBC World Service's World Today programme.

I had a dream, if I won a lottery, of touring the world's great cult-of-personality countries. And alas, that dream is somewhat diminished this morning.

BTW, there's also a BBC feature: Grim legacy of grandiose leader.