Nov
12
2008
50 Things about the President Elect
150 Things about the President Elect
By Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 3:40PM GMT 11 Nov 2008
He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball
His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini
He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father
He is left-handed the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
He has read every Harry Potter book
He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars
He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
He can speak Spanish
While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead
His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea
He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president he didn't
He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name
His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancι, but left when a stripper arrived
His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books
His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees
He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date
He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician
As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)
He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside
He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
His house in Chicago has four fire places
Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita
He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry
He uses an Apple Mac laptop
He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300
He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits
He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)
His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire
He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers
He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother
He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso
His speciality as a cook is chilli
He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"
He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life
His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government
What They Said:
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1 Comments | Perm-a-link | 11/12/2008
