As Japan's premier prepares to pay homage to Elvis at Graceland tomorrow, the closet hobbies of world leaders past and present are laid bare. From pitchers to crooners, auteurs to impressionists, these are politicians with hidden passions.[Read more]This is THE funniest article I've read in a while. I'll just summarize (in case you're too lazy to read the long article)
some of the global leader's obsessions (the oddest ones) - that they've actually ADMITTED to having:
Junichiro Koizumi: Elvis PresleyFor years, Junichiro Koizumi was known in Japan's sclerotic political world as henjin or weirdo - an eccentric with unpopular ideas, suspiciously dapper good looks and that expensively coiffed grey perm. So when he became Prime Minister in April 2001, Mr Koizumi did what any conservative Japanese politician worried about his odd image would: he released a collection of Elvis tunes.
Kim Jong II: CinemaNorth Korea's Dear Leader has a love of cinema that borders on the pathological. He is said to have collected more than 10,000 movies (his favourites including the Godfather series, James Bond, Daffy Duck cartoons and horror movies) and to have bought every Oscar-winning film. Elizabeth Taylor is, reportedly, his much-loved pin-up.
Jacques Chirac: Sumo Wrestling
If he had not been a politician, Jacques Chirac would like to have been a sumo wrestler. The French President is a devoted fan of the ancient Japanese form of wrestling. He has tapes of bouts sent over from Japan and often watches them in the Elysée Palace while drinking - one of his other unlikely passions - Mexican beer.
Ferenc Gyurcsany: Hugh GrantIt was bizarre enough for British cinema-goers to watch Hugh Grant strut his stuff around No 10 to the energetic beats of Eighties pop in the 2003 film Love Actually. Imagine, then, the shock of Hungarians when they were later confronted with a home video of their real-life Prime Minister recreating the rom-com moment - and casting himself in the role of the floppy-haired, shoulder-wiggling hero. Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hungary's Prime Minister since 2004, recorded the clip as a wedding gift to a government spokesman.
Hugo Chavez: Baseball
Contrary to popular belief, Hugo Chavez didn't join the army to launch his political career, or gain an education, he did it to further his baseball ambitions. His greatest dream, he told an interviewer, was to play for the San Francisco Giants. Once in Caracas, his hopes of catching the eye of a scout failed to materialise. The Venezuelan president turned out to be more of a soldier than a pitcher and became more interested in running the country than home runs. However, the eccentric leader, who also has a Berlusconi-esque passion for singing folk songs and painting, has latterly found his way back to the baseball diamond. He captained a national all-star team in a match with his fellow Latin American lefty Fidel Castro ( p.s. I LOVE FIDEL CASTRO :-D )
Saddam Hussein: WritingThe dramas of real life in Iraq were evidently not enough for Saddam Hussein, who turned his hand to creating warlords, battles and invasions on the page. The former dictator likes nothing better than curling up with a copy of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, from which he draws inspiration. His first novel, Zabiba and the King, published in 2002, recounts a love affair between a king and a peasant girl - believed to be a metaphor for Iraq - who is violated by a heartless stranger. It was an instant bestseller and made part of the school curriculum. His nom de plume - "He who writes" - was exposed in 2004, when a journalist revealed that Saddam's writing process only goes as far as a few notes. One of his ghostwriters died in mysterious circumstances in 2003.
Silvio Berlusconi: MusicSilvio Berlusconi may no longer be Italy's Prime Minister since losing the general election in April, but his devotion to his hobbies far outstrips that of the man he sneeringly described as "that nice cyclist", Romano Prodi. The pastime for which he is best known is music: accomplished at piano, guitar and double bass, he claims to have paid his way through university by singing and strumming on cruise ships, accompanied by an old friend called Fedele Confalonieri (who now runs his television company Mediaset). He has written the lyrics for a CD of Neapolitan-style love songs, played by Mariano Apicella, and Berlusconi and Apicella jam together frequently during the summer holiday at Berlusconi's enormous Villa Certosa in Sardinia. His youthful employment with a picture framer also gave him a lasting passion for collecting pictures, and, since buying Villa Certosa, he has become a devotee of cacti, of which he possesses at least 400.
Tags: Junichiro Koizumi, Kim Jong II, Jacques Chirac, Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hugo Chavez, Saddam Hussein, Silvio Berlusconi