Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know
By Jon Swaine
§ 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 fiancé, but lef 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
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