FACTBOX: Key facts about Zimbabwe's President Mugabe

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe bitterly attacked former colonial ruler Britain on Friday in his first major speech since disputed March 29 elections.

Here are some facts about Mugabe:

* Once hailed as a model African democrat, Mugabe has held fast to power for years despite a deepening political and economic crisis that critics blame on his policies.

* Mugabe was born in February 1924 on the Kutama Mission northwest of Harare and educated by Jesuits. He earned seven university degrees, three while in prison.

* Mugabe was jailed for 10 years in 1964 for opposing white minority rule. A guerrilla war began in 1972 against Ian Smith's white government of then-Rhodesia.

* Mugabe became leader of the ZANU liberation movement in the mid-1970s after his release from jail.

* The renamed ZANU-PF won independence elections in 1980 and Mugabe became prime minister. He took office as president in 1987 following a change in the constitution.

* In 2000, Mugabe tasted defeat when voters in a referendum rejected a constitution that would have given him more power. He turned on the small white minority, blaming them.

* He pushed legislation through parliament allowing his government to seize over half the white-owned farms. Self-styled war veterans occupied many other farms, often with violence.