50 Things you might not know about Obama

savio13

MP Guru
According to The Telegraph, here are the fifty facts about US presidential elect Barack Obama that you might know of:

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

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25 Things You Might Not Know About Michelle Obama

1. She was born January 17, 1964, meaning she will turn 45 three days before she becomes the First Lady of the United States.

2. Her father worked the swing shift in the boiler room at Chicago's water purification plant; her mother was a stay-at-home mom until her two children were grown.

3. Within the family, her nickname is "Miche" (pronounced "Meesh").

4. Her husband calls her "My Rock".

5. She grew up with her older brother, Craig, and parents in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment; she and Craig shared the living room, which had been separated by dividers.

6. As a child, she loved her Easy-Bake Oven.

7. Even though they were only allowed one hour of television per night, she committed each episode of The Brady Bunch to memory.

8. As a young girl, she practiced playing the piano so much that she had to be told to stop.

9. She and her brother both skipped second grade.

10. Although a great athlete, she shied away from competitive sports because, her big brother says, she hated to lose.

11. She has always been outspoken; in addition to some of the memorable things she said on the campaign trail, she told her teachers when she got to Princeton that they weren't teaching French correctly.

12. She was a young lawyer and assigned to be Barack's mentor when her future husband came to her Chicago firm for a summer job.

13. Her first impression of Barack wasn't great; she'd seen his photo in the law firm directory and thought he had a big nose.

14. She declined Barack's initial attempts to ask her out, saying it would be inappropriate.

15. Before seriously agreeing to date Barack, she asked her brother to take on her suitor on the basketball court (her father and brother had always said you could tell a lot about someone's character on the court).

16. Her father died of complications from Multiple Sclerosis when she was in her 20s.

17. Barack proposed at a fancy Chicago restaurant; the ring came on a tray with the dessert.

18. At their wedding, they danced their first dance to "Unforgettable".

19. Santita Jackson, Jesse Jackson's daughter, sang at the wedding.

20. She works out "like a gladiator," according to friends.

21. She hates panty hose - too "painful."

22. At the Democratic National Convention in 2004, moments before her husband was about to go on stage to give his speech she decided to break the tension: "Just don't screw it up, buddy!" she memorably said.

23. She unwinds by watching reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

24. For breakfast, she likes fruit, eggs and bacon. "We're bacon people" she said on The View.

25. About her husband, she once said, "Barack didn't pledge riches, only that life would be interesting. On that promise he's delivered."
 
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