FACTBOX: Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi

(Reuters) - Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the most prominent of more than 1,000 known political prisoners in military-ruled Myanmar, had her detention extended for another six months, a government source said on Tuesday..

Here are some key facts on Suu Kyi, who went from being a housewife in the English countryside to one of the world's most famous political prisoners and an icon of Myanmar's democracy struggle.

* EARLY LIFE:

-- Born in Rangoon (now Yangon) on June 19, 1945, Suu Kyi's father, national hero Aung San, was assassinated when she was two. His death came six months before Burma (now Myanmar) achieved the independence from Britain he helped negotiate.

-- After studying politics in New Delhi, Suu Kyi studied philosophy, politics and economics at Britain's Oxford University. In 1972 she married British academic Michael Aris.

* POLITICAL ROLE ESTABLISHED:

-- Suu Kyi returned to Yangon in April 1988 to look after her mother just as resentment of military rule boiled over into countrywide pro-democracy protests. Named secretary general of the National League for Democracy (NLD) the same year, she called for an end to the military rule established in a 1962 coup.

-- Suu Kyi remained in Burma after her mother's death in December 1988 and was put under house arrest in July 1989 for "endangering the state". Her husband and sons were placed under similar restrictions when they joined her in 1989 from Britain.

-- Although Suu Kyi was barred from standing in general elections in 1990, her NLD party won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in the first multi-party general election since 1960. The military ignored the result, refusing to relinquish power.